CRYPTOCURRENCIES: DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY, BANKS AND CENTRAL BANKS INITIATIVES, REGULATION

Resumen

This paper analyses the impacts of the innovations known as distributed ledger technology (DLT) on the monetary system and on financial activities. Private cryptocurrencies, as Bitcoin, are permissionless means of payment, based on blockchain, a form of DLT. There were expectations that these private cryptocurrencies could compete with the banks payment systems and with state's currency and even supplant it. The development of these technologies has the potential to modify profoundly monetary and financial practices, but there are no indications that they may threaten the centrality of the fiduciary state currency and the banking system in the contemporary monetary order. Major international banks have developed cryptocurrencies for settlement systems and for interbank transactions. Some Central Banks are studying the launch of state cryptocurrencies that could coexist with their fiduciary state currency and even replace their paper currency. The application of this technology brings new challenges to regulation, including because cryptocurrencies can be used for money laundering and by organized crime.