GB Market Commentary 24/11/2021
by Marcus Sotiriou
One day after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced his plan to build a ‘Bitcoin city’ powered by a volcano and financed by Bitcoin bonds, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned against it being used as legal tender. They said “Given bitcoin’s high price volatility, its use as a legal tender entails significant risk to consumer protection, financial integrity, and financial stability. Its use also gives rise to fiscal contingent liabilities. Because of those risks, bitcoin should not be used as a legal tender.” The IMF clearly are against Bitcoin, but I am personally not so sure they can do much about it, with customers in high demand for the asset class. For example, the chairman of Australia’s Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) claimed recently “Crypto is on our doorstep, here and now, and being driven by extraordinary consumer and investor demand. The implications for consumers are potentially huge.” This recognition from one of the wealthiest countries in the world means that the IMF may be too late to stop Bitcoin reaching global adoption.
In other news crypto adoption continues to rise as Citigroup hire 100 people for its crypto division. Emily Turner, who oversees business development for the division explained, “We believe in the potential of blockchain and digital assets including the benefits of efficiency, instant processing, fractionalization, programmability, and transparency.” Giants like Citi integrating crypto into their services adds significant credibility to the industry. As mentioned yesterday, I think the biggest banks in the world adopting cryptocurrency will create a snowball effect for other institutions to get on board.