Argentina’s Central Bank Governor: The Central Bank is monitoring cryptocurrencies

Miguel Pesce, the president of Argentina’s central bank, said that the country’s central bank is “watching” the development of cryptocurrencies. Pesce believes that “the name cryptocurrency is not appropriate” because blockchain-based units of account are the opposite of money, adding that crypto “refers to something that is hidden, opaque.”

“We think we have to do the education work, explain to people what these tools are going to do, to avoid a situation where, because of misinformation, someone makes an investment that he has no control over,” Pesce said.

He believes that cryptocurrencies were created as a payment mechanism rather than as an investment tool, and scarcity turns these instruments into financial instruments and increases their prices.

He commented that this situation gives cryptocurrencies “very high volatility,” a characteristic that a currency should not have. In addition, Pesce said that the Argentine central bank is monitoring cryptocurrencies to ensure that they are not used to circumvent exchange controls.