Bank of France governor calls for central banks to issue digital currency

Central banks should be in charge of issuing digital currencies as the use of cash declines, the Bank of France’s governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said.

Despite digital currencies have featured prominently in discussions around the world for many years, what actions should be taken are as unclear as ever. While the hype around cryptos like Bitcoin has died down, they are still very popular.

Last year, Facebook revealed it is joining the ranks of digital currencies with its Libra coin, which has faced a lot of scrutiny from regulators.

Regulators have all been taking different approaches to how they should be regulated. France has been actively pushing the use of the currency type. The first deputy governor of Bank of France Denis Beau stated last year the country was exploring the use of digital currency and distributed ledger technology.

Additionally, Beau called for the European Central Bank to create its own digital currency which would be used across the EU.

Villeroy de Galhau has now called for central banks to be in control of digital currencies, according to a report from Reuters.

This decision is derived from the world move away from physical cash. He said, ?[do] we need to give citizens the right to digital money that is no longer a physical bank note but which has the same quality, notably the security of a central bank.p>

He also went on to state that currency cannot be private.

The move away from a cashless society was recently brought up in New York. The council released a new bill that prohibits retail and food establishments from refusing to accept physical cash payments.

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