Tony Richards, head of payments policy at the Reserve Bank of Australia, believes that cryptocurrencies are not dangerous for the Australian dollar due to the lack of interest in them from the local population.
According to
publications The Canberra Times, at a conference with the Association of Corporate Treasurers of Australia, Tony Richards admitted that digital assets are gaining public attention. However, they have not become widespread in Australia, so they will not be able to negatively affect the activities of the country’s central bank and commercial banks, Richards said. In addition, many organizations are increasingly listening to regulatory warnings about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.
Richards revealed that he has had a cryptocurrency wallet since 2014, but did not elaborate on which cryptoassets he was buying. Part of his job, Richards said, is trying to understand how new payment tools and technologies function.
“Cryptocurrencies are unlikely to pose a threat to the Australian dollar, Australia’s monetary sovereignty, or the ability of a central bank to conduct monetary policy. I do not see sellers posting price tags in cryptocurrencies, and companies compiling annual reports in cryptoassets. And I don’t see people wanting to get paid in digital assets, ”Richards said.
He does not deny that there is a wide audience of investors, from individuals to hedge funds, who believe that cryptocurrencies play an important role. Richards is convinced that the enthusiasm for investing in cryptoassets is fueled by the sayings and tweets of opinion leaders. However, most organizations around the world remain skeptical about the cryptocurrency industry, said an Australian Central Bank official.
The head of the payments department of the Central Bank of Australia mentioned the “dog” coin DOGE, which was launched in 2013. In May of this year, the market capitalization of DOGE was more than $ 88 billion, but today it has dropped to $ 31 billion. Richards considers this a significant reason for skepticism, despite the fact that DOGE is among the ten largest cryptocurrencies by capitalization.
Richards also spoke about a recent poll among Australian citizens, according to which 17% of the local population owns cryptocurrencies. He considered these conclusions not entirely plausible, since usually large groups of the population are not taken into account in surveys: elderly people and citizens living in the regions and do not have access to the Internet.
Michelle Bullock, Deputy Governor of the Australian Central Bank for Financial Systems, has a similar opinion about cryptocurrencies. She previously stated that they may pose a risk to investors, but not to financial stability.

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