The development of crypto-assets, the challenges linked to both their growth capacity and their use by consumers, and the possibility of central banks issuing their own digital currencies were the main topics of the third edition of the Banking Lab held today at CUNEF.
Santiago Carbó, Director of the Department of Economics at CUNEF; Santiago Fernandez de Lis, Head of Regulation at BBVA; Javier Sebastián, from the Regulation Department at BBVA; and Andrei Kirilenko, Professor at the University of Cambridge and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), addressed the current situation of cryptocurrencies and shed light on the role they could assume in the economy of the future.
Currently, many cryptocurrency issuers are considering backing or linking them to stable assets, such as the dollar or the euro, seeking to solve the volatility problems presented by these assets. Furthermore, the possibility of cryptocurrencies becoming a means of payment that competes with existing ones, such as cash, is one of the reasons behind the current debate on the advisability of issuing official digital currencies.
However, one of the conclusions of the session was that technical complexity and regulatory risks—regarding both consumer protection and financial stability—warrant a more in-depth analysis. Many of the problems standing in the way of the adoption of and trust in this class of assets can be addressed from a regulatory standpoint.
The distributed ledger technology behind cryptocurrencies offers enormous potential for improvement in digital payments. However, the experts agreed that it is also necessary to demonstrate its greater efficiency compared to current payment processes.
Blockchain, cryptoassets and banking: an introduction. Santiago Carbó Valverde
The use and adoption of crypto assets. Demelza Hays and Andrei Kirilenko
