Grexit's Significant Impact on Digital Currencies
In March/April 2013, the exchange rate of bitcoin soared as a consequence of harsh capital controls introduced in Cyprus. Many people came to the conclusion that governments and banks couldn't be trusted with their hard-earned savings, and started looking for alternative ways to store value, out of reach of predatory central banks. Bitcoin came to the....
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Written by Colin Kwan, COO of Magnr/BTC.sx. Colin has over 10 years experience in investment banking, including senior management roles at UBS and Deutsche Bank. Colin also holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management. At the time of writing, the Greece debt crisis appears to have been averted, or at the least delayed. A €50 billion bailout package has been offered, if the Greek parliament agrees to implement extensive reforms that have been demanded by the eurozone. Although the risk of a Grexit has been reduced, it has not been eliminated. If the parliament votes to....
After months in seclusion, the price of bitcoin once again emerged as the breakout tabloid star of this week's news cycle. Spurred by a sudden spike in trading activity on 16th June, the media quickly correlated the surge to Greece's increasingly possible exit from the European Union (nicknamed the 'Grexit'). Though real evidence to suggest bitcoin is becoming a tool for Greek citizens amidst monetary uncertainty is scarce, the coverage nonetheless succeeded at overshadowing other developments in the industry, both positive and negative. A 'Grexit' price pump. To understand Greece's role....
Bank of England deputy governor for monetary policy Ben Broadbent argued in a speech today that bitcoin is unlikely to obtain widespread adoption – but that central bank-issued digital currencies could have a big impact on the global financial system. In a talk at the London School of Economics, Broadbent focused specifically on the evolving relationship between digital currencies and central banks, a topic that Bank of England staffers have broached in the past. The deputy governor dismissed the possibility that digital currencies such as bitcoin could become widely used as a payment....
The Greek crisis and the prospect of Grexit - the exit of Greece from the Eurozone and perhaps even from the European Union - continue to make headlines. The government of Alexis Tsipras and his euro-skeptic, anti-establishment party Syriza, is trying to negotiate solutions for the struggling economy of Greece that would keep the country in the E. U. and the Eurozone, but the worst-case solution - Grexit - continues to be seen as a perhaps inevitable alternative option. Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis wrote a blog post in February proposing a similar IOU-based currency, which he....
The European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, is weighing a limit on cash transactions in a move that may also affect digital currency payments. According to an impact assessment published by the Commission, the aim of the proposal is to curtail payments in cash, which critics say promotes anonymity when transacting. Any restrictions, the roadmap states, “would be a mean to fight criminal activities entailing large payment transactions in cash by organised criminal networks” – with a similar impact on terrorist financing as well. On the same foot, such efforts could be used to....