Long active in evaluating blockchain technology broadly, a European Central Bank (ECB) official took steps this week to stress the institution is closely watching cryptocurrency.

In an interview published on Oct. 29, Benoît Cœuré, one of the central bank’s executive board members, elaborated briefly on the bank’s views on the subject, telling Le Journal du Dimanche it is following their development and spread.

The ECB is not “ignoring” the spread of cryptocurrencies, he said. Yet, at present, he does not consider them a risk to the bank or the euro.

Cœuré told the organization:

“At the moment cryptocurrencies don’t pose any monetary risk because the amounts involved are marginal. They are speculative financial instruments which create risks of a financial or even criminal nature.”

Some nations are moving away from physical bills and coins to their own cryptocurrencies, so central banks, in general, are monitoring them closely, he continued.

In September, the ECB’s president, Mario Draghi, said nations in the eurozone could not use their own cryptocurrencies, but instead every member state had to use the euro.

Draghi later said the ECB could not regulate cryptocurrencies.

 

Benoît Cœuré image via Wikimedia Commons