Blockchain.info CEO: Central Banks Will Hold Crypto In Reserve In 2018

Blockchain.info CEO Peter Smith had some strong words for cryptocurrency during a short interview on CNBC’s Coin Rush segment, Cointelegraph reported Monday.

Smith believes in 2018 central banks will hold cryptocurrency, alongside gold and foreign currencies, the report said.

He forecast next year would be the first time such incorporations of cryptocurrency into traditional financial institutions, the report said.

“I think this year will be the first year we start to see central banks start to hold digital currencies as part of their balance sheet,” Smith said.

Bitcoin’s surge in the past year going from around $1,000 in January to $20,000 this week, has drawn the attention of banks, governments and regulators globally, the report said.

For example, in some markets banks specifically have adopted varying and sometimes polarizing views on the cryptocurrency’s future, the report said.

While South Korea’s Shinhan announced it would become the first major bank to offer customers Bitcoin wallets and storage, the report said, a Governor of Denmark’s central bank this week described Bitcoin as “deadly” and urged citizens to stay away from it.

As part of a new trend, Smith continued, central banks would likely begin to issue their own branded digital assets “either late this year or early next year.”

In fact, multiple governments – including Russia’s – are considering issuing a national digital currency, and Dubai has already officially decided to do so.

When asked about the likelihood of a “major hack” occurring in the cryptocurrency sphere sometime in the future, Smith said since it had been around five months since the last major hack, the ecosystem was “due for one in the next month or two.”

– WN.com, Jack Durschlag