Bitcoin (BTC) could become an alternative to traditional reserve currencies

A former Canadian prime minister believes Bitcoin could replace the US dollar as an alternative reserve currency 

The former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes that Bitcoin could become one of the baskets of reserve alternatives to the US dollar. He suggested that Bitcoin and a host of other central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could serve as alternative reserve currencies to replace the US dollar.

Harper made this prediction yesterday in an interview with Cambridge House’s Jay Martin at the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference. The former Prime Minister who served for nine years argued that the Chinese yuan or the euro could dethrone the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

However, he doesn’t think either of them could be viable alternative currencies at the moment due to the long-term uncertainty of the euro’s value and the despotic measures of the Chinese government to regulate the yuan’s value.

Harper said, “It’s hard to see what the alternative is to the US dollar as the world’s major reserve currency. Other than Gold, Bitcoin, a whole basket of things”. He believes the number of assets that people would use as reserves will expand, but the greenback (US dollar) will remain the dominant currency in the market.

On the topic of central bank digital currencies, Harper said that their development is inevitable, but they would likely be subjected to monetary policies worldwide. With the development of CBDCs, central banks could become something of a general banker instead of their current roles as financial monitors. This could affect the rollout of the CBDCs.

Harper stated that if we have digital currencies and the central banks are tasked with controlling inflation and creating stable currencies, then the CBDCs are just an evolution of the current marketplace.

The US dollar has served as the global reserve currency for decades. Bitcoin is a new asset class that is rapidly gaining adoption globally. With the rise of Bitcoin and stablecoins, central banks worldwide are either thinking about developing their digital currencies or are in the process of developing one. The development of CBDCs will ensure that financial control and stability remains in the hands of central banks.