BOE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe: Crypto Crash Survivors Could Become Future Amazons

Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of Bank of England (BoE) for Financial Stability, posits an imminent emergence of institutional investors with the commercial might of e-commerce giants Amazon and eBay from the rumbles of the current crypto collapse.

Jon Cunliffe believes crypto technology and finance will continue 

Speaking at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich, Cunliffe likened the current crypto winter to the dotcom crash of the 1990s that saw the fall of the stocks of a lot of e-commerce platforms like telecommunications firm Global Crossing, British firm Boo.com and American online retailer Webvan, among others.

Companies such as Amazon (AMZN), IBM (IBM), and eBay (EBAY) that survived the dotcom crash went on to become some of the emerging giants in their respective fields a decade later. Cunliffe believes the same will be the case for investors that survive the cold crypto winter.

The 69-year-old civil servant further likened internet technology to the concept of cryptocurrencies today. According to him, just as web technology survived the dotcom bubble, crypto technology and finance will continue after this bear market because “it has the possibility of huge efficiencies and changes in market structure.”

The UK government aims to make the country a global crypto hub

Speaking further, Cunliffe gave an update on the progress made by the Bank of England to explore the concept of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins following the interest indicated in April of last year by the bank.

According to him, the bank is indecisive on whether to create an independent CBDC for the financial sector of the country or a virtual currency that could be used in stablecoins issued by private firms, noting that investigations are currently underway.

Recall that Tether, the company behind the largest stablecoin by market cap, USDT, just recently introduced a stablecoin pegged to the British Pound Sterling dubbed GBPT, with plans to launch it in early July. Tether noted that the initiative was majorly influenced by the UK government’s friendly approach to crypto.

This came two months after the British government revealed plans to make the country “a global center for crypto technology”. As part of such plans, the government aims to integrate stablecoins into the payments system of the country, said Rishi Sunak, chancellor of the Exchequer.