Former Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has recently said that he believes CBDCs are inevitable, while he also considers Bitcoin to be a substitute reserve currency for the U.S. dollar. These statements were made during an interview with Jay Martin (from Cambridge House) at the 2021 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference.
Harper opinionated that, although other currencies, such as the Chinese Yuan or the Euro, are already used as a reserve by many people, companies, and countries, the chance of any of them replacing the U.S. Dollar is rather low. The reason? These currencies are also highly vulnerable to market fluctuations. Bitcoin and gold, on the other hand, don’t have that weakness.
Harper Thinks That CBDCs Are Inevitable
The former PM was also asked about the growing hype of CBDCs. He declared that they are inevitable if we look at the evolution rate of the financial ecosystem and its leaning toward the Fintech side. Harper also mentioned that it would be a while until we see that happening because of all the regulations and monetary policies that need to be passed.
The comments Harper made regarding the CDBCs are actually accurate – the ECB chief spoke recently that there are plans for a digital Euro but that it wouldn’t be available for the public until 2026, at the earliest.
The race for the CBDC is on, with China leading the pack since it’s digital yuan is quite close to being released nation-wide. China has been working on this since 2014 and, at the moment, is running pilot programs across several cities to test the digital yuan.
Other countries, such as South Korea and Japan, have also finished the preliminary stage, and they could release the pilot programs in the next couple of years. The West is trailing behind, with Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. working on the initial stages.