Don’t Call Bitcoin A Virtual Currency, Professor Tells Japan’s FSA, Petitioning Members To Adapt Views

Don’t Call Bitcoin A Virtual Currency, Professor Tells FSA

Even those who know little to nothing about Cryptocurrency are somewhat familiar with Bitcoin or have at least heard of it in passing. This is because it is inarguably the most famous of all the cryptos and is the most mainstream of them all.

If you were to ask the average person what Bitcoin is, they would probably argue that it is a cryptocurrency, a digital currency or simply a virtual currency. This, for all intents and purposes, seems to be the universally accepted definition of Bitcoin. However, a Japanese professor has come out to state that this definition is outdated and should no longer be used.

Out Of Date

This statement was made on March 4, 2019, and was told to the Financial Services Agency (FSA) during a meeting and the minutes of this were made public recently. During the 41st General Assembly of the Financial Council and the 29th Financial Division Meeting, a professor stated his opinion on the definition of Bitcoin.

Professor Iwashita Goto of the Public Policy Graduate School of Kyoto University told the attendees of the meeting that Bitcoin has transcended the concept of a virtual currency and as such, should not be called one.

“I don’t think it would be worthwhile to call Bitcoin a Virtual Currency,” he said, “Bitcoin is simply not something that I know well but it’s going to go up, it’s not an asset, but there’s an illusion that something is being used here as a currency, and it goes up, as a result, I feel like there is such an actual situation.”

What is Bitcoin?

While the Professor’s statement is interesting, it is important to examine whether Bitcoin truly is a Virtual Currency.

By Wikipedia’s definition, “Virtual currency, or virtual money, is a type of unregulated, digital money, which is issued and usually controlled by its developers and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community”

Going by this alone, one could call Bitcoin a Virtual Currency. However, it should be considered that most cryptos are used as trading assets and not just for payment sake.

At the same time, a good part of the journey towards adoption has been getting Bitcoin recognized as a currency in its own right as well as a tradable asset. While it is important to recognize that bitcoin is multifaceted, it’s status as a Virtual Currency is still a topic of discussion.