European
e-cash
Debate Corner
Since 1994, the debate over European regulation of electronic
cash has raged behind closed doors, within secret committees,
and with a thousand nods and winks.
The debate is now out in the open.
A recent development is this interesting paper by Professor C.A.E. Goodhart, Can Central Banking Survive the IT Revolution? in which he basically says that yes, it will survive if governments are willing to foot the bill. This was deciphered from the original PFDF.
The Economist published this commentary on Goodhart's paper.
The European Commission has commissioned research on policy questions on the regulation of electronic money by means of a series of open and published questions, mailed to interested parties across the Internet.
Here are questions and responses prepared by Ian Grigg. The flavour is informal, but rather critical, as it was felt that a devil's advocate approach was more useful in this context of broad, open discussion. We welcome this chance to contribute!
Other commentators have forwarded their responses directly, and these have resulted in a
Explanatory Memorandum on the Commission proposal for European Parliament and Council Directives on the taking up, the pursuit and the prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions, including the Draft Directive.