Financial safety

EU Issues Worrying Warning Over Future Of Bitcoin

Despite bitcoin's latest price rally, the world's largest cryptocurrency is still struggling to reach mainstream adoption, and now the European Union (EU) has warned bitcoin and other decentralised cryptocurrencies could be derailed by the world's central banks.

A report on fintech competition, commissioned by the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (Econ), which oversees the decisions made by the EU's European Central Bank (ECB), found that if banks and central banks were to issue their own cryptocurrencies it could be bad news for the likes of bitcoin.

"The arrival of permissioned cryptocurrencies promoted by banks, even by central banks, will reshape the current competition level in the cryptocurrency market, broadening the number of competitors," the report authors at the Police Department for Economic, Scientific, and Quality of Life Policies wrote.