France: We don’t have a lot of time to regulate cryptocurrencies

Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, said Europe should give priority to regulating cryptocurrencies or digital assets that challenge its monetary sovereignty.

Francois Villeroy de Galhau – Governor of the Bank of France

At a financial conference in Paris Europlace today (June 30th) Villeroy said The European Union (EU) only has “one or two years” left to create a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Inaction, he said, would “run the risk of undermining our monetary sovereignty” and possibly weaken the euro.

“I have to stress the urgency here: we don’t have a lot of time, a year or two. For both digital currencies and payments, Europe needs to act as quickly as possible. “

Villeroy has called on the EU to “adopt a regulatory framework in the coming months” as cryptocurrencies take a growing position in regional markets. The use of cash declined in the first few months of Covid-19, a trend that, according to Villeroy, could lead to “limited use of central bank money”.

The governor previously warned regulators about the potential dangers of cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). In September 2020, he said that large tech companies could potentially build a private financial infrastructure and monetary system – including issuing their own stablecoins – which could undermine financial sovereignty in the EU for decades.

In January, the Bank of France completed a pilot program for its own CBDC, and later reported that investors bought and sold € 2 million – $ 2.4 million at the time – the simulated stock value.

The Bank of France announced that it will carry out further test runs for the digital currency this year.

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According to Cointelegraph

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