Bank of Japan’s deputy governor stated on Saturday that they were not really sure if digital currencies could replace fiat currencies in the near future. He stated that it was still unclear if digital currencies could enhance the monetary policies of central banks. He also said that Japan wasn’t planning to issue a cryptocurrency.

Mr. Amamiya said that there was quite a hurdle for the virtual currencies for overcoming currencies and pointed out they are usually used as a means of investment rather than for a actual payment or settlement.  

One of the top cryptocurrencies, Ripple has announced its partnerships with financial institutions like PNC Bank which boasts of 8 million customers and more recently with the largest private foundation in the United States.

The president of the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi and widely considered one of the most important figures in global finance recently said that the ‘underlying technology is still fragile’.

The prices of the cryptocurrencies surged last year but this year hasn’t been that great for the virtual currencies and many countries have enforced a crackdown on it. Many central banks have downplayed cryptocurrency as it could disrupt the global payment and settlement sector is arguably a direct threat to central banks.

 Recently the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina asserted that investor interest in cryptocurrency was waning and that the fever of virtual currencies was slowly disappearing. She also said that ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) were a great way to raise funds but was quick to point out the high percentage of scams in the sector.