Bitcoin Called Possible Reserve Currency By Canada’s Former PM
Stephan Harper stands as the former Prime Minister of Canada, having served nine years within the position. In a recent interview with Jay Martin from the Cambridge House investment service, he revealed that Bitcoin might just have a spot in central banking.
The asset, alongside central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), could serve as a basket of reserve currencies in order to replace the USD.
Harper: USD Might Lose Some Of Its Dominance
The interview was done today at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, where Harper stated that the USD being replaced would only be a result of a large currency of some other type, such as the Chinese Yuan or the Euro.
However, Harper also stated that these two currencies managing to pull it off is rather doubtful, as the Yuan suffers from various “arbitrary measures” from China’s government, and the Euro suffers from long-term uncertainties regarding its value.
In the interview, Harper revealed that he still believes the USD will hold the dominant role as a reserve, standing alongside baskets of assets, gold, and Bitcoin. As such, the number of assets used as reserves will expand, but the USD will still maintain the lion’s share of it.
CBDCs Are Inevitable
As for his views on CBDCs as a whole, the former prime minister considers such a development an inevitability more than anything else. Even so, these state-owned stablecoins will most likely stand subject to their own monetary policies across the globe.
Harper voiced concerns regarding central banks slowly moving away from purely being a financial monitor, instead of becoming a “general banker” type of operation. As a result of such a development, any CBDC rollout would be affected.
In Harper’s opinion, a CBDC would only serve as an evolution of a central bank’s marketplace, as these central bodies already work to create a stable currency and control inflation. However, there are fears from the former prime minister that this all is just some series of wild experiments as to what central banking’s role should be, something that profoundly worries him.
Canada Striving For Blockchain Usage
Harper himself boasted the title of Prime Minister of Canada for nine years, going from 2006 to 2015. Since his departure, blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption have seen massive expansions. Back in September, Canada even managed to gain its first regulated crypto exchange.
The Bank of Canada has also been making a move towards the development of its own CBDC. This was revealed thanks to the Deputy Governor of the country’s central bank, Timothy Lane.