Australian Official Claims ETH Is Not A Threat To The Financial System

Tony Richards, an Australian official who owns Ethereum himself, claims that the second-biggest cryptocurrency is not a threat to the financial system, following a recent Senate report which called for adapting the laws to accommodate crypto so let’s read more in today’s Ethereum news.

Richards’ comments were made during an online conference this week and according to him as an Australian official from the Reserve Bank of Australia head of payments, cryptocurrencies don’t pose a threat to the central bank operations. The bank official who admitted owning a crypto wallet back in 2014, doesn’t see crypto posing a threat to the Australian dollar. Richards said:

“I don’t view them as a threat to the Australian dollar or to our monetary sovereignty, or to the Reserve Bank’s ability to conduct monetary policy. I can’t see shops posting their prices in cryptocurrencies or companies doing their annual reports in cryptocurrencies or lots of people wanting to get paid in cryptocurrencies. While cryptocurrencies have clearly captured the attention of many, no doubt fuelled by influencers and celebrity tweets, it is unclear how widely held they are.”

He doesn’t believe that estimates of this kind are plausible because online surveys fail to capture all segments of the population but he did comment on those who don’t regularly access the internet. Richards also said he owns a crypto wallet since 2014 and stressed out that the amounts in the wallet are quite small:

“After all, part of my job is to try to understand new payment instruments and technologies.”

Richards added a few other factors that combined together, could heavily impact the current accelerated rate of adoption which is best reflected in the rise in meme coins like Shiba Inu and Dogecoin. According to him, crypto mining could even attract more attention from governments because of the high energy consumption and more focus has to be given to preventing the use of crypto in facilitating crimes.

Richards added that the retail investors will be less influenced by the fads and will become more cautious about investing in assets that have no backing or real value. The Australian official noted that while most economies are considering a central bank digital currency, none have finalized the plans. Earlier this month, the biggest bank in Australia announced it will offer crypto trading services via smartphone apps after engaging in a partnership with Gemini and Chainalysis.