Central Bank Executive in Romania Thinks Crypto Assets Will Not Replace Their National Currency

Romanian central bank through their official announced that cryptocurrency will not replace their national currency.

Romanian National Bank (BNR)’s Administration Council member, Daniel Daianu, said:

“In my opinion, these are financial assets, not cryptocurrencies, and they won’t be able to fulfill the basic roles of currency. Currency is always backed by a last-resort lender. In markets, the state is the only possible last-resort lender. When the banking system was saved, it wasn’t crypto banks that were saved. Central banks intervened by issuing base currency, which was followed by non-conventional measures. Cryptocurrencies will never be able to substitute the currency issued by a central bank.”

Although he had a way for central banks to be using digital currencies. He added:

“What can happen is for central banks to have a digital currency, but that will also be issued by the bank, and commercial banks will receive digital currency that can multiply. I do agree, however, that new technologies lead to disintermediation and this feature of decentralization shows us the merits of networks.”

He even spoke about Brexit stating:

“80 percent of transactions with derivatives go through the London market and these things aren’t related to the concept of Brexit; they are very practical. You can see how difficult it is to unite the capital markets. Locally, small companies can’t list elsewhere, but large companies can do so. I think that the Financial Supervision Authority must continue to fight for the development of the local capital market. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

What is worth mentioning, back in 2014, Romania joined the American nonprofit corporation Bitcoin Foundation and was actually the first Eastern European chapter affiliate to do so. In July 2018, they released a draft Emergency Ordinance, which regulates the issuance of electronic money (e-money). Any legal entity looking to issue e-money must have a share capital of no less than €350,000 ($409,000), while its members are subject of approval by the Romanian National Bank (BNR).