Digital Asset News
The digital euro has something positive for every stakeholder, as François Villeroy de Galhau, the president of the Banque de France, explained at a meeting of commercial banks on 22 June. Disintermediation – i.e. the dissolution of the banks’ field of business through the digital currency – is not to be expected, as the central banker concluded accordingly at the Global Official Institutions Conference. Villeroy de Galhau’s tone became more mollifying when he turned to the “less consensual part” of the digital euro. In this context, he then asked rhetorically: “If everything goes digital, why should central bank money be the only thing that remains on paper?”
It is thanks to European regulation and supervision that the European banking system is safe, he said. However, he noted that the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS raised “new questions” about reliable crisis management. “The framework for the provision of liquidity to the Eurosystem by the ECB has yet to be established,” he analysed.
It is unlikely that there will be a “direct” index fund (ETF) for Bitcoin (BTC) in the US in the near future.
At least this is the assessment of the investment firm QCP Capital in its current market update of 22 June. The Bitcoin price has actually gained more than 20 % since the news that the influential asset management firm BlackRock has applied for such a Bitcoin ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
However, this would be the first bitcoin ETF of its kind, as all previous applications for direct ETFs have been rejected by the SEC.
“However, with Gensler heading the SEC, we are not confident that actual ETF approval will occur in the near future,” the update therefore states.
QCP’s view is thought-provoking, especially, as the researchers themselves note, given that BlackRock has so far received only one SEC rejection out of 576 applications.
“However, as we have consistently emphasised, there is a big place for institutional BTC and ETH in the asset management world, and we will see further moves in this direction in the coming months and years,” the investment firm’s analysts continue.
This illustrates that the SEC’s action cannot be supported with logical and sensible arguments.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reiterated its call for the regulation of cryptocurrencies in certain countries, while acknowledging that a complete ban is not the best approach. In doing so, the IMF notes that Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador – whose regulation of cryptocurrencies is “in the works” – are among the countries with the world’s highest adoption of digital assets, which aim to help unbanked people, send faster and cheaper payments and more. In addition, most central banks in the region have launched or are considering launching their own “digital currencies”. “If well designed, CBDCs can strengthen the usability, resilience, and efficiency of payment systems and increase financial inclusion in [Latin America and the Caribbean],” the IMF said.
Digital assets and the advantages of transparent and fast systems are the future for the IMF, too, it just needs to find suitable regulations, similar to the EU.