Director ECB: bitcoin-futures — a threat to financial market

Director of the European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that the trend among financial market infrastructures to adding bitcoin futures platform is a threat to the stability of the banking system.

In conversation with the financial daily Börsen-Zeitung Yves Mersch, member of ECB's Executive Board, reported on the concern about financial institutions that invest in futures on bitcoin. In particular, the Cboe and CME. The recent price spike of bitcoin was caused by the launch of cryptocurrency contracts trading platforms, which provided a digital currency is a greater degree of confidence in the financial world. Contracts for bichenovii futures began to be traded on the stock exchange in Chicago (CBOE) 10 Dec and CME Group — a week.

Bitcoin continues to attract the attention of the press because the price of bitcoins falls, then takes off. Last month digital currency closer to 20 000 USD.

The Director of the ECB said that at the moment, trading bitcoin is not a problem for monetary policy, since the turnover of the leading cryptocurrency — from € 250 ($ 302) to € 350 ($ 422) billion — is relatively low.

As for rising prices, Mersch said that some investors may be gambling the race for quick profits, but "if something goes wrong, they should not come to us and say that we had to declare bitcoin illegal and to protect investors from themselves".

To the question of whether private cryptocurrencies become a real alternative to Central Bank money, he said

"It's a challenge that we all face, especially the banks. Each Agency should know for the future of financial intermediation will no longer be so relevant, but it is worth fighting for".

In November, the Director of the ECB has offered banks to accelerate the introduction of instant payments, to counter the "charm" of digital currencies such as bitcoin.
author:Alain Filippenkov