http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-18/bank-england-economist-calls-cash-ban-urges-negative-rates http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...omy-says-Bank-of-England-chief-economist.html
When your model produces insane results perhaps it's time to change the model rather than simply going insane with the model.
It's the natural progression from ZIRP to NIRP. Essentially, there is/was no going back to rate normalization...Bernanke alluded to it a year ago "no rate normalization in my lifetime". These so-called "emergency measures" became the new normal...I can still remember Bernanke "assuring the markets" by extending ZIRP forward something like 2-3 years awhile back...All of this after the infamous 60 Minutes interview about normalizing rates in an instant...This whole charade is ludicrous.
"Interestingly, one idea, Haldane told an audience of business owners in Northern Ireland, could be to scrap cash and adopt a state-issued digital currency like Bitcoin.Although widely reviled as the currency for drug dealers and criminals, Haldane said Bitcoin’s distributed payment technology had ‘real potential’. Which may explain the Fed's sudden fascination in the virtual currency." Quote from ZH link in OP's post. scrap cash , go to bitcoin. hmmm
just read a piece that stated "the old US fed can't get it up" in the face of a young curvy global world
kidding aside, bitcoin does not get the serious coverage and consideration it deserves. Seems it would be very hard to debase, counterfeit or "print" new coins. It would also be a wonderful trading instrument... clean, fluid, transparent.
It's not bitcoin itself they're interested in, it's underlying tech, the blockchain. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...tells-banks-the-blockchain-changes-everything They aren't backing anything that doesn't benefit them in multiple ways. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-30/first-blythe-masters-now-goldman-investing-bitcoin With digitization of $$ they will have ultimate control. With the click of a mouse, bail ins, no runs on banks possible, minimum withdrawals, instant ban on sending funds to destinations. Another click, you can't click. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cash-policy-tool-interview-hon-dr-harald-malmgren-tavares
But wouldn't the blockchain extend to other countries and allow for global access to coin even if one country tried to screw with access or transfers. Swiss might hold blockchain strong like they did other wealth during WWII...gives new meaning to satellite internet access, deep web pools, algo encription, and digital numbered accounts
yea corner retail banks would kinda be....well, gone the way of the Dodo bird. Which is of course a good thing. DISRUPTION