MIT Technology Review Discusses Central Bank Panel from MIT Bitcoin Expo, which included DCI's Rob Ali

Three things central bankers can learn from Bitcoin

In a recent panel discussion, experts highlighted some practical lessons from the original cryptocurrency.

by Mike Orcutt Mar 13, 2020

For central bankers, the game changed last summer when Facebook unveiled its proposal for Libra. Many have responded by seriously exploringwhether and how they should issue their own digital money.

Arguably, though, the more fundamental change is more than a decade old. It was Bitcoin that first made it possible to transfer digital value without the need for an intermediary, a model that competes directly with the traditional financial system. The network’s resilience against attackers suggests there is another way of setting up the system.

Last weekend at the MIT Bitcoin Expo held on campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I sat down with experts familiar with central banking as well as cryptocurrency. We discussed the practical concerns central bankers should be considering as they begin to design their own digital money systems. One common theme: central bankers have plenty to learn from Bitcoin.