The great race – La Stampa

In 2012 there were Bitcoins worth 140 million dollars, today there are one thousand and 250 billion. Bitcoin, for the two cats still in the dark, is a digital currency, that is, a currency that does not exist, it is not issued by a state or by a bank, no one has ever kept a banknote in their pocket: if they are invented on the internet and had a great success. There are others similar – the total value rises to three trillion dollars – and they guarantee considerable advantages: it is easy to use them for online payments, no commissions are paid to banks, there is no tracking, you can get around the tax burdens. For now, cryptocurrencies are used almost exclusively for financial trades, but what will happen when (not if, when) they are used to make purchases on Amazon or Facebook? Within a few years, if the growth of cryptocurrencies continues, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, monetary sovereignty will be at risk: larger and larger chunks of the economy will travel with a private and uncontrolled currency. For this reason, the European Central Bank is studying its own digital currency, and it will be more attractive than Bitcoin because it will have the guarantee of the EU. It is a race to finish first, and not a race for two. The United States is also planning the digital dollar, but the usual China is ahead of Europeans and Americans: its digital yuan is already being tested in Shanghai and Shenzen. If China arrives well in advance, it will damage the economy and European sovereignty worse than Bitcoin. By the way, how was it that you have to go back to the lira? (The good morning goes on break, returns on Tuesday 7 December).