SDR and Bitcoins: Competition or Cooperation?

Abstract

The answer is that, for the time being, this is not the case, because virtual currencies are “too volatile, too risky, too energy intensive; [...] many are too opaque for regulators; and some have been hacked”. Nonetheless, there is a “growing demand for new payment services” in economies “rooted in peer-topeer transactions, in frequent, small value payment, often cross border”: in these cases, virtual currencies can be competitive against traditional systems such as credit cards.