Banks and Crypto: Watching Out for Bad Vibes
So, get this. The guy from the European Central Bank and head of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta, spoke up last Friday. He was like, hey, we really gotta keep an eye on banks getting into the crypto stuff. He said it could make people stop trusting banks if things go south and folks lose money.
He was giving the Bank of Italy's yearly report, and he pointed out that more and more banks are teaming up with places that deal in digital money. He thinks people might not totally get what crypto is and might think it's like regular bank accounts. If they lose cash, it could mess with how much people trust the whole banking system.
He even brought up how Italy's biggest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, tried something out in January. The CEO, Carlo Messina, called it a 'test.' They bought a million euros worth of Bitcoin, which is the biggest digital money out there. Intesa actually started a special team in 2023 just for trading digital stuff, and last year they started doing quick trades with crypto.
And over in Spain, Santander is thinking about doing more with digital assets too. Bloomberg said on Thursday they're maybe planning to offer something called a stablecoin and let regular folks who use their online bank get into cryptocurrencies.
Panetta also talked about these stablecoins. They're supposed to stay at a steady value compared to regular money or other things. He thinks they could be a problem for how we usually pay for stuff, especially if big tech companies from other countries start pushing them. He basically said that without good rules, it's hard to say if they're even good for paying for things.
But here's the thing, he also warned that it's kinda silly to think we can just stop crypto, like stablecoins, from spreading by just saying no. He believes we need to do something that keeps up with all the new technology. He mentioned that the idea for a 'digital euro' actually came from needing to do just that. The European Central Bank is working on their own digital money so it can compete with the private ones that might make central bank money less important.
