Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister of Canada, who ruled the country for nine years (from 2006 until 2015), said that there may be a place for Bitcoin and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as part of a basket of reserve currencies to replace the dollar.
It has been reported that Harper said that the possibility of the US dollar being replaced could only come from a large currency like the Euro or Chinese yuan.
However, he expressed his doubts either of them would be a viable alternative currency given the long-term uncertainty over the value of the Euro and the “arbitrary measures” the Chinese government would take regarding the value of the yuan.
» Former Canadian prime minister names Bitcoin as possible reserve currency https://t.co/U9RmMNboRD — CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) January 18, 2021
Harper added:
“It’s hard to see what the alternative is to the U.S. dollar as the world’s major reserve currency. Other than gold, Bitcoin, a whole basket of things […] I think you’ll see the number of things that people use as reserves will expand, but the U.S. dollar will still be the bulk of it.”
Also, the former prime minister added that he thought CBDCs were to some degree “inevitable” but would likely be subject to monetary policy around the world. Harper said he was concerned about central banks becoming “kind of a general banker” rather than just a financial monitor, something that could affect the rollout of any CBDC.
Thus, he concluded:
“Ultimately, if you have a digital currency and the purpose of the central bank is to control inflation and create a stable currency and priceability, then digital currency is just kind of an evolution of the marketplace. But if it’s part of a series of what I think are wild experiments as to the role of central banking, then it worries me a lot.”
Source: Cointelegraph