‘Bitcoin is a Failure as a Currency,’ Says BoE Governor

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, measuring Bitcoin by benchmarks of currencies and believes that the cryptocurrency has failed in its direction and definition. Neither useful as a store of value or as a way to buy things, the Governor questions Bitcoins direction.

Like many in the financial and traditional investment space, Carney is skeptical of the cryptocurrency aspect of the new technology but maintains that Blockchain technology can provide answers and be of use to verify financial transactions in a decentralized way.

The traditional aspects of money

Heavily involved in the traditional financial institutions, Carney has looked to measure this new digital currency against the standards of fiat and traditional currencies. He states:

"It has pretty much failed thus far on ... the traditional aspects of money. It is not a store of value because it is all over the map. Nobody uses it as a medium of exchange," Carney said.

A chance after Brexit

The governor also perhaps hinted at the fact that Brexit may work in favor of cryptocurrencies when it comes to regulation as the United Kingdom looks to remove itself from European sanctions.

The UK is currently proceeding to untangle itself from a number of different regulatory factors, and this involves the financial markets. He said that to make Britain's departure from the European Union in March 2019 as smooth as possible British regulators intended to give financial institutions "the benefit of the doubt, beyond the last minute."

It is unclear whether that will extend to digital financial institutions and currencies, but there could be new grounds and scope for the UK to examine cryptocurrencies and their governance without the added pressures of the EU.

Need for direction

There is no doubt that Bitcoin is wavering in its path to be a functional and useful currency, heading towards more of a store of value or digital gold. This, of course, affects its path and the resistance it meets, as now, it is less of a threat to central banking and the monopoly of money that the banking sector holds.

The digital currency is still fluid enough to change path and direction, however, and there could well be a shift in expectation depending on the will of the community and the implementation of upgrades.