The Reserve Bank of Australia’s take on cryptocurrencies

The Reserve Bank of Australia expressed that it is quite skeptical of cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption in Australia.The Australian Central bank released a paper addressing the matter and Governor Philip Lowe has also voiced his opinion on the topic.

SBS News reported that the RBA released a 5,800-word report on the matter of cryptocurrency being used as a means of payment in Australia.The financial institution makes its position clear on why it does not believe that digital currencies like Bitcoin can be usable. The paper reported that,

“There is little likelihood of a material take-up of cryptocurrencies for retail payments in Australia in the foreseeable future.”

The authors of the report detailed about how decentralisation, scalability and security present a huge issue, 

In the report,the payment policy department analysts Cameron Dark, David Emery, June Ma and Clare Noone, concluded by saying:

“As long as the Australian dollar continues to provide a reliable, low-inflation store of value, and the payments industry continues to work on the efficiency, functionality and resilience of the Australian payments system, it is difficult to envisage cryptocurrencies presenting a compelling proposition that would lead to their widespread use in Australia.”

Philip Lowe, chief of the Reserve Bank of Australia expressed his thoughts on Facebook’s latest crypto venture.

Lowe said in a press conference,.

“There’s a lot of water under the bridge before Facebook’s proposal becomes something we’re using all the time.There are a lot of regulatory issues that need to be addressed and they’ve got to make sure there’s a solid business case.”

The chief of RBA argued that cryptocurrencies would not take off in Australia since the population is already used to digital payments controlled by banks.

He added,

“We already have a very, very efficient electronic payments system that allows anyone of us to make bank payments to another person in five seconds just knowing their mobile phone number.”