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Keynote speech by Mr Norman T L Chan, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Treasury Markets Summit 2018 "Crypto-assets and Money", Hong Kong, 21 September 2018.

Cryptocurrencies are often thought to operate out of the reach of national regulation, but in fact their valuations, transaction volumes and user bases react substantially to news about regulatory actions. The impact depends on the specific regulatory category to which the news relates: events related to general bans on cryptocurrencies or to their treatment under securities law have the greatest adverse effect, followed by news on combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and on restricting the interoperability of cryptocurrencies with regulated markets. News pointing to the establishment of specific legal frameworks tailored to cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings coincides with strong market gains. These results suggest that cryptocurrency markets rely on regulated financial institutions to operate and that these markets are segmented across jurisdictions, bringing cryptocurrencies within reach of national regulation.1

Costs presently outweigh benefits, and so the European Central Bank (ECB), 'has no plans to issue a central bank digital currency,' at this time, though it is investigating the matter, says ECB president, Mario Draghi. Draghi made the comments in a September 12th letter responding

Juan José Echavarría reflects on collapse of neighbouring economy in interview with Central Banking

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) published its annual report this week and buried within the massive tome are many indications as to the banks perspective on Fintech. One item of note is the fact the RBI is currently studying the possibility of issuing a

Depositors might transfer funds to central bank accounts during financial stress, researcher says

Mr Benoît Cœuré – Executive Board Member of the ECB and Chairman of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI)

Move to central bank cryptocurrency would make Fed “overwhelming credit allocator” - researcher

New technology could reduce payments efficiency and increase financial instability, deputy governor warns

Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you very much for the kind invitation to this event. I am very happy to be here today and address such a distinguished audience. Most people assume that all issues pertaining to “money” are an easy task for a Central Bank Governor. On the contrary. Some issues are very challenging, including present emerging technologies in the field of finance and mushrooming cryptocurrencies. Addressing such issues presents a great opportunity for all interested to revisit the fundamental concepts surrounding money and how best to shape the monetary space in the future. More than 20 years ago Bill Gates stated: “Banking is essential, banks are not”. Please, allow me to disagree. Banks are of utmost importance, but what is true about this quote is that the distrust that emerged towards some banking systems after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and the development of a society-wide taste for decentralized, peer-to-peer, facebook-type, interactions across powerful computer networks, has dramatically altered the landscape in the financial services. And central banking in the age of digitalization is an interesting issue for reflection in the realm of monetary economics. In my speech I will try to explore some key issues in how money evolves, what is the key innovation in private digital currencies, what would a central bank digital currency be like and what might be the impact of introducing one for the central bank monetary policy.

Lack of finality in payment could cause major instability, Benoit Coeuré says

CBDC could make New Zealand’s banking sector more susceptible to spillovers

Cryptocurrencies promise to replace trusted institutions with distributed ledger technology. Yet, looking beyond the hype, it is hard to identify a specific economic problem which they currently solve. Transactions are slow and costly, prone to congestion, and cannot scale with demand. The decentralised consensus behind the technology is also fragile and consumes vast amounts of energy. Still, distributed ledger technology could have promise in other applications. Policy responses need to prevent abuses while allowing further experimentation.

CBDCs may not be compatible with rights of individuals, says Bank of Italy’s Panetta

It is a great pleasure to be here. The topic of this conference speaks to the heart of some of the most challenging questions for central banks today: how is the digital revolution affecting the financial system? What is the impact on consumers, the economy and on central banks themselves? These are complex questions, related to the consequences of the fourth industrial revolution in our society, within which central bank digital currencies (CBDC in short) might one day play an important part.