Grant Spencer, the deputy governor and head of financial stability for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has told an audience at the Payments New Zealand Conference that the RBNZ does not see the rise of Bitcoin as a threat but he did express concern about the potential for broad cyber attacks.
"As the currency issuer, the Reserve Bank does not feel threatened by Bitcoin which seems to behave more like a commodity than a currency."
He cited companies such as Apple, Google and PayPal which he hoped would come to the table in the hope to strike a balance between competition, co-operation and safety.
"This greater use of technology is making our lives easier but also brings increased operational risk."
The RBNZ previously stated that:
"The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act prohibits the issuance of bank notes and coins by any party other than the Reserve Bank. However, the Reserve Bank has no direct power over any form of alternative payments medium. Non-banks do not need our approval for schemes that involve the storage and/or transfer of value (such as 'bitcoin') – so long as they do not involve the issuance of physical circulating currency (notes and coins).
Source – http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/63088348/RBNZ-plans-tighter-rules-for-online-payments
Old people sound old. These "experts" who comment on bitcoin all sound like sheep. First it was a silly experiment, now the blockchain is cool, but the currency is not. Everyone tries to break it down into some a la carte piece. It is what it is, it's a new paradigm.