Baroness Wheatcroft (CB) [V]:...More broadly, I welcome the areas
in which the innovation hub will be involved. It will play to the
strengths of the City and those areas where we are renowned,
particularly fintech, which is a growing sector in the UK, and
regulation, where we like to think we are ahead of the curve. I am
not always so sure of that. However, we are told that one area that
the hub will be looking at carefully is that of central bank
cryptocurrencies and how these should be...Request free trial
(CB)
[V]:...More broadly, I welcome the areas in which the innovation
hub will be involved. It will play to the strengths of the City and
those areas where we are renowned, particularly fintech, which is a
growing sector in the UK, and regulation, where we like to think we
are ahead of the curve. I am not always so sure of that. However,
we are told that one area that the hub will be looking at carefully
is that of central bank cryptocurrencies and how these should be
regulated. My real question is allied to that because I am deeply
concerned about the growth, not in central bank cryptocurrencies,
but in cryptocurrencies generally. Noble Lords will have seen that
the price of bitcoin, which fluctuated hugely in January, between
$34,000 and $47,000, has again leaped into the news because
Elon Musk is putting $1.5 trillion into
it. While the founder of Tesla can afford to lose
$1.5 trillion, although I am convinced he has no wish to do so, my
concern is that a lot of people will be persuaded to put hard cash
into bitcoin because Elon Musk has done so, and their money
will be at risk...
(Lab):...However, as the noble
Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, said, the BIS is also responsible for
promoting stability, so I hope that the Minister will be able to
respond to her question about the new bitcoin currencies that are
developing and establishing themselves. Certainly the press reports
on Elon Musk are pretty
worrying...
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