The Canadian dollar will remain at the center of the country’s financial system, the head of the central bank said Monday, in response to questions about a conservative leader’s pledge to make the country the blockchain capital of the world. .
“There are promising benefits of innovation in the financial sector. That said, we certainly expect the Canadian dollar to remain the centerpiece of the Canadian financial system,” said Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem, in testimony to a committee of the House of Commons.
The Bank of Canada is currently working on its own central bank digital currency, a so-called digital loonie, which could be launched if a private digital tender as a payment system were launched.
Pierre Poilievre, a leading candidate for leadership of the opposition Conservative Party, has said that if elected, he would support a “new, decentralized, bottom-up economy” and empower people to take control of their lives. taking money from bankers and politicians.
He has posted videos of himself buying lunch with Bitcoin to make a point about its usefulness, and regularly uses cryptocurrencies as a means for Canadians to “forgo inflation”.
Poilievre leads all polls ahead of a vote in September to elect a new Conservative leader. Last month, Poilievre was favored by 25% of conservatives polled by the Angus Reid Institute, compared to 20% for Jean Charest, his closest contender.
The Bank of Canada has previously said that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are speculative investments that “have no plausible claim of becoming the money of the future”.
The central bank has entered the development phase of its digital currency, senior vice governor Carolyn Rogers told lawmakers on Monday, although the decision whether that goes ahead or not is up to the government.
“We consider it our job to be ready, to have the work done in advance, so that if we decide that a central bank digital currency is something that would benefit Canadians, we are ready to provide it.” ,” she said.
Poilievre has made suppressing rising inflation one of the main campaign themes, criticizing both the government of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the central bank for letting things get out of hand.
Inflation in Canada hit a 31-year high at 6.7% in March as countries around the world struggle with booming demand and bottlenecks in global supply chains. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has hit raw material prices, causing prices to rise further.
Bitcoin, for its part, hit an all-time high of over $68,000 in late 2021, before more than halved in January. It is now trading close to $40,000.
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