The siege of digital assets on central banks’ monetary control. the legal-economic question of regulating cryptocurrencies (or not)

Authors

Abstract

This research work is thematically framed within the digital economy. It delves into the effects of digital assets and the encryption technology that supports them (blockchain) on centralized monetary control. Using a comparative analytical methodology focused on the legal-economic analysis of selected financial systems, this paper intends to demonstrate that crypto assets undermine the effectiveness of monetary policy as an instrument of price stabilization, by de facto becoming substitutes even more effective than traditional money, though excluded from money supply’s regulation. Further, the paper aims to formulate a critical judgment on the regulatory need for the final integration of crypto assets into the financial system by way of homologation to legal tender money; or merely by substituting the latter with a new digital currency, as a way of retaining control over the money supply that centralized monetary policy is targeted

Keywords:

Cryptoassets, criptocurrencies, NFTs, Monetary policy, Central Bank

Author Biography

Rafael M. Plaza Reveco, Universidad de Chile

Lawyer, graduated in Legal and Social Sciences from the University of Chile. PhD and master's degree from the University of Melbourne, master's degree from the University of New York, diploma from the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Chile and post-PhD at the University of Geosciences in China. Member of the Center for Resources, Energy & Environmental Law of UNIMELB, associate professor and director of the Journal of Economic Law of the Department of Economic Law of the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile and lawyer member of the Illustrious Court of Appeals of Santiago

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