Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 17
By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:
Creating a single currency in the CIS countries and the Black Sea region is impossible for now, Dmitry Pankin, president of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
Pankin noted that creation of a single currency is impossible without coordination of economic policy, without creating common economic institutions and a common central bank.
“The countries of the region aren’t yet ready to create a common central bank to which they can transfer all powers, create a common budget, give up national sovereignty in this area,” he said.
As an example, Pankin reminded that the process of creating the euro took a lot of time and efforts.
It took 30 years for the European countries to create a single currency, he said, adding that the results also leave much to be desired.
As for the possibility of using cryptocurrencies based on the blockchain technology, this technology is unreliable, he noted.
“I don’t believe in the widespread use of these currencies, because any currency is based on the credibility of an issuer,” he said. “Such technology exists now, and in a few years there will be some other technologies and technical solutions, and as soon as something new appears, this system will collapse.”
Pankin added that there is no real basis behind this whole system.
“For example, gold and silver have a certain value and it is the basis of trust in money, there are national currencies behind which there is trust in the state, while cryptocurrencies aren’t based on anything,” he said.
Certain attempts are already being made to introduce a single currency in the post-Soviet space. In particular, this possibility is being considered within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). It is assumed that the EEU countries will have a single e-currency.
Blockchain is a way of storing data, or a digital registry of transactions, deals, and contracts. Its main difference and undeniable advantage is that this registry is not stored in one place, but distributed among several thousand computers around the world.
The principle of operation of the blockchain is quite simple - digital records are combined into "blocks", which are then linked cryptologically and chronologically into a "chain" with the help of complex mathematical algorithms. Each block is linked to the previous one and contains a set of records. New blocks are always added at the end of the chain.
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