Patrick Harker, president of the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, believes that sooner or later the US will develop its own national cryptocurrency. The representative considers it “inevitable” in the future, saying central banks around the world will eventually begin to issue digital currencies.
Speaking this week at the Community Banking Conference in St. Louis, Harker pointed out that the United States shouldn’t rush to issue a national cryptocurrency, but stressed that it’s time to begin learning how it works, saying “It is inevitable … I think it is better for us to start getting our hands around it.”
Quite a leap from less than a year ago, where researchers at the Fed quickly brushed off the entire concept, at the time saying “Cryptocurrency is still a very young technology and there are large operational risks. Overall, we believe that the call for a ‘Fedcoin’ or any other central bank cryptocurrency is somewhat naive.”
But don’t expect breaking news on this front soon, Harker believes a national cryptocurrency is still at least 5 years away.
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Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk
