IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/ijfr11/v10y2019i4p1-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Competing With Bitcoin - Some Policy Considerations for Issuing Digitalized Legal Tenders

Author

Listed:
  • Arto Kovanen

Abstract

The proliferation of peer-to-peer virtual alternatives to traditional banknotes has raised concerns among policymakers about the future of traditional means of making payments and how it might affect monetary policy implementation and its effectiveness. This study provides a brief overview of the existing research in this area. It compares positions taken in the literature by authors on some of the key policy issues relevant for central banks when thinking about the issuance of digitalized legal tenders. We examine the implications of government issued digital alternatives to traditional currencies for monetary policy effectiveness, payments and settlements, and financial market stability. We also discuss recent advances in financial technology to improve the making of payments and settlements, which might help contribute to financial inclusion. At the same time, new technologies represent challenges for regulatory authorities, for instance related to efforts to contain anti-money laundering and prevent financing of terrorism. A number of authors argue that government issued digital currency is necessary to address the flaws in private crypto currencies, and to improve monetary policy effectiveness. Central banks have begun to analyze possible features of digitalized legal tenders, to better understand the policy considerations involved and effects these could have for interest rate transmission and financial markets, but there is no clear consensus on key modalities associated with digitalized legal tenders. Moreover, many central banks do not regard privately issued virtual currencies as a serious threat to traditional currencies. Given the ongoing debate, it is difficult to make firm predictions about the impact of central bank issued digital currencies on monetary policy transmission and financial markets at this point.

Suggested Citation

  • Arto Kovanen, 2019. "Competing With Bitcoin - Some Policy Considerations for Issuing Digitalized Legal Tenders," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:ijfr11:v:10:y:2019:i:4:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.5430/ijfr.v10n4p1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijfr/article/view/15453/9585
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijfr/article/view/15453
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5430/ijfr.v10n4p1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Freedman, Charles, 2000. "Monetary Policy Implementation: Past, Present and Future--Will Electronic Money Lead to the Eventual Demise of Central Banking?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 211-227, July.
    2. C. Pfister, 2017. "Monetary Policy and Digital Currencies: Much Ado about Nothing?," Working papers 642, Banque de France.
    3. Meyer Aaron & Francisco Rivadeneyra & Samantha Sohal, 2017. "Fintech: Is This Time Different? A Framework for Assessing Risks and Opportunities for Central Banks," Discussion Papers 17-10, Bank of Canada.
    4. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde & Daniel R. Sanches, 2018. "On the Economics of Digital Currencies," Working Papers 18-7, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    5. Mr. Dong He & Mr. Ross B Leckow & Mr. V. Haksar & Mr. Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli & Nigel Jenkinson & Ms. Mikari Kashima & Mr. Tanai Khiaonarong & Ms. Celine Rochon & Hervé Tourpe, 2017. "Fintech and Financial Services: Initial Considerations," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2017/005, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Neil Gandal & Hanna Halaburda, 2014. "Competition in the Cryptocurrency Market," Staff Working Papers 14-33, Bank of Canada.
    7. Michael D. Bordo & Andrew T. Levin, 2017. "Central Bank Digital Currency and the Future of Monetary Policy," NBER Working Papers 23711, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Mr. Alain Ize & Mr. Arto Kovanen & Timo Henckel, 1999. "Central Banking Without Central Bank Money," IMF Working Papers 1999/092, International Monetary Fund.
    9. Morten Linnemann Bech & Rodney Garratt, 2017. "Central bank cryptocurrencies," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    10. Sarah Rotman, 2014. "Bitcoin Versus Electronic Money," World Bank Publications - Reports 18418, The World Bank Group.
    11. Michael Woodford, 2000. "Monetary Policy in a World Without Money," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 229-260, July.
    12. A. Stevens, 2017. "Digital currencies : Threats and opportunities for monetary policy," Economic Review, National Bank of Belgium, issue i, pages 79-92, June.
    13. Daniel Heller, 2017. "Do Digital Currencies Pose a Threat to Sovereign Currencies and Central Banks?," Policy Briefs PB17-13, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    14. Barrdear, John & Kumhof, Michael, 2016. "The macroeconomics of central bank issued digital currencies," Bank of England working papers 605, Bank of England.
    15. Dong He & Karl F Habermeier & Ross B Leckow & Vikram Haksar & Yasmin Almeida & Mikari Kashima & Nadim Kyriakos-Saad & Hiroko Oura & Tahsin Saadi Sedik & Natalia Stetsenko & Concha Verdugo Yepes, 2016. "Virtual Currencies and Beyond; Initial Considerations," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 16/3, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Benjamin M. Friedman, 2000. "Decoupling at the Margin: The Threat to Monetary Policy from the Electronic Revolution in Banking," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 261-272, July.
    17. Ben Fung & Hanna Halaburda, 2016. "Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Framework for Assessing Why and How," Discussion Papers 16-22, Bank of Canada.
    18. Dong He & Ross B Leckow & Vikram Haksar & Tommaso Mancini Griffoli & Nigel Jenkinson & Mikari Kashima & Tanai Khiaonarong & Celine Rochon & Hervé Tourpe, 2017. "Fintech and Financial Services; Initial Considerations," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 17/05, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Friedman, Benjamin M, 2000. "Decoupling at the Margin: The Threat to Monetary Policy from the Electronic Revolution in Banking," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 261-272, July.
    20. Ali, Robleh & Barrdear, John & Clews, Roger & Southgate, James, 2014. "Innovations in payment technologies and the emergence of digital currencies," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 54(3), pages 262-275.
    21. Max Raskin & David Yermack, 2016. "Digital Currencies, Decentralized Ledgers, and the Future of Central Banking," NBER Working Papers 22238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hoang, Yen Hai & Ngo, Vu Minh & Bich Vu, Ngoc, 2023. "Central bank digital currency: A systematic literature review using text mining approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Muhammad Owais Qarni & Saiqb Gulzar, 2021. "Portfolio diversification benefits of alternative currency investment in Bitcoin and foreign exchange markets," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, December.
    3. Arto Kovanen, 2022. "Second Thoughts About Central Bank Digital Currencies," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paolo Fegatelli, 2019. "Central bank digital currencies: The case of universal central bank reserves," BCL working papers 130, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    2. Marcelo A. T. Aragão, 2021. "A Few Things You Wanted to Know about the Economics of CBDCs, but were Afraid to Model: a survey of what we can learn from who has done," Working Papers Series 554, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    3. Alexandra Mitschke, 2021. "Central Bank Digital Currencies and Monetary Policy Effectiveness in the Euro Area," Working Papers Dissertations 74, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    4. Agur, Itai & Ari, Anil & Dell’Ariccia, Giovanni, 2022. "Designing central bank digital currencies," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 62-79.
    5. C. Pfister, 2017. "Monetary Policy and Digital Currencies: Much Ado about Nothing?," Working papers 642, Banque de France.
    6. DIMITRIU, Mihail, 2017. "Currency, Financial System And Virtual Space. A Microeconomic Approach," Journal of Financial and Monetary Economics, Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 4(1), pages 261-265.
    7. Hossein Nabilou, 2020. "Testing the waters of the Rubicon: the European Central Bank and central bank digital currencies," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(4), pages 299-314, December.
    8. Rehman, Mubeen Abdur & Irfan, Muhammad & Naeem, Muhammad Abubakr & Lucey, Brian M. & Karim, Sitara, 2023. "Macro-financial implications of central bank digital currencies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Korhonen, Tapio, 2001. "Finnish monetary and foreign exchange policy and the changeover to the euro," Research Discussion Papers 25/2001, Bank of Finland.
    10. Julián A. Parra & Carlos Arango - Joaquín Bernal & José E. Gómez - Javier Gómez & Carlos León - Clara Machado & Daniel Osorio - Daniel Rojas & Nicolás Suárez - Eduardo Yanquen, 2019. "Criptoactivos: análisis y revisión de literatura," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, issue 92, pages 1-37, November.
    11. Gérard Mondello & Elena Sinelnikova & Pavel Trunin, 2020. "Macro and Micro Implications of the Introduction of Central Bank Digital Currencies: An Overview," GREDEG Working Papers 2020-02, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France, revised Mar 2020.
    12. Chin‐Yoong Wong & Yoke‐Kee Eng, 2020. "P2P finance and the effectiveness of monetary controls," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 88(4), pages 617-639, July.
    13. Lahdenperä, Harri, 2001. "Payment and financial innovation, reserve demand and implementation of monetary policy," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 26/2001, Bank of Finland.
    14. Arto Kovanen, 2022. "Second Thoughts About Central Bank Digital Currencies," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    15. Mr. Tanai Khiaonarong & David Humphrey, 2019. "Cash Use Across Countries and the Demand for Central Bank Digital Currency," IMF Working Papers 2019/046, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Emanuele Borgonovo & Stefano Caselli & Alessandra Cillo & Donato Masciandaro & Giovanno Rabitti, 2018. "Cryptocurrencies, central bank digital cash, traditional money: does privacy matter?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1895, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    17. Donato Masciandaro, 2018. "Central Bank Digital Cash and Cryptocurrencies: Insights from a New Baumol–Friedman Demand for Money," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 51(4), pages 540-550, December.
    18. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2001_025 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Dirk Niepelt, 2020. "Reserves for All? Central Bank Digital Currency, Deposits, and Their (Non)-Equivalence," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 16(3), pages 211-238, June.
    20. Walter Engert & Ben Fung, 2017. "Central Bank Digital Currency: Motivations and Implications," Discussion Papers 17-16, Bank of Canada.
    21. Jan Marc Berk, 2002. "Central banking and financial innovation. A survey of the modern literature," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 55(222), pages 263-297.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jfr:ijfr11:v:10:y:2019:i:4:p:1-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gina Perry (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://ijfr.sciedupress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.