Chief of the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Felix Hufeld, has described blockchain technology as “revolutionary” while stating that he sees it as capable of turning the financial sector ”upside down”.
Speaking during an event in Berlin last week, Hufeld, president of BaFin, outlined his position on both Bitcoin and blockchain.
While holding a skeptical view on the sustainability of Bitcoin’s price and the current initial coin offering (ICO) boom, Hufeld expressed his belief that blockchains capacity to power distributed applications “could actually be revolutionary”.
Highlighting the benefits unique to blockchain, Hufeld noted: “These apps are not only safe from failures of individual computers or providers, they also promote the development of a ”blockchain economy”.
An additional advantage of blockchain Hufeld considers is its potential in providing “effective control mechanisms or trustworthy institutions” in areas such as international aid that lack dependable regulation.
It appears Hufeld’s opinions have developed since April when he stated he merely did not want to ”kill [blockchain] innovation“, as BaFin expanded cryptocurrency regulations on the pretext of money laundering concerns.
Germany’s position on Bitcoin
Earlier this week, members of the German federal government stated that they believed Bitcoin did not provide a threat to financial stability because they view the volume of cryptocurrency asset transactions as too low to have a large impact on the German economy.
However, the representatives said that they believed an increase in regulatory measures was required to control the industry, with the government considering it important to monitor this area closely at the G20 level.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report in April that cited similar reasoning as that of the German government in regards to not seeing cryptocurrencies as a threat to global financial stability.
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