Should private companies create cryptocurrencies?

Published in El Pais, October 8th 2019.

I have written numerous articles about cryptocurrencies in the past, from how it works to what you can do with them. I also reported on major companies such as JP Morgan and Facebook making their own Stablecoins (a cryptocurrency that will always be pegged to the US dollar). When major companies make such announcements, it brings cryptocurrency onto the main scene and makes us wonder if other major tech and financial companies will follow suit.

Apple might be one such example as they enter the financial sector with their new credit card and it could be argued that it would benefit from using blockchain technology to support it, but for those waiting for the announcement of the “Apple coin” do not hold your breath as Tim Cook has already said no. His reasoning? He believes that currencies should be in control of the government and not private enterprises and while the entire cryptocurrency community would disagree with that statement it does bring up a good question? Should private companies be creating their own currency?

The reality is there is no universal answer to that as each company should be judged on a case by case basis. Facebook seems to be at the centre of a privacy scandal every few months so one could understand why people would be skeptical of trusting them with a currency regardless of their intentions. You can make the argument that some governments are trustworthy in handling their currency, but one only needs to look at the hyperinflation situations in Argentina and Venezuela to know that some governments should not be trusted either.

Regardless of what you feel about them cryptocurrencies are here to stay and we should look at it with an open mind as the technology has the potential to do wonders. So whenever a new company announces a new cryptocurrency we need to read all the facts before coming to a conclusion on whether or not this currency should even exist.