Crypto PayPal.

In a major breakthrough for the UK cryptocurrency market and those of us who want a choice of currency we use, it has been announced that PayPal will now offer their customers in the UK the option to buy and hold bitcoin through their online PayPal wallets.

This news is very welcome and with a big player like PayPal joining the likes of Coinbase I can see a great future for the digital currency market in the UK. It is in my opinion a great extension of the freedom of choice for people to use these alternative currencies.

For a person like myself who runs their own business in the tech industry this introduction of cryptocurrency is a great way to start to get new customers by offering a new payment method as and when PayPal makes it possible to do this.

In an article in Reuters online Jose Fernandez da Ponte who is the vice president and general manager fo blockchain and crypto and digital currency at PayPal said “ We are committed to working with the regulators in the UK, and around the world , to offer our support- and meaningfully contribute to shaping the role digital currencies play in the future of global finance and commerce.” *

I myself believe there should be very little regulation of these currencies and it is my belief that governments want to regulate as they fear many people will switch to these new currencies instead of sticking with the established currencies and they are worried of a decline and destabilisation of national currencies.

*source Reuters online.

In a separate article in the Telegraph there were warnings from the Financial Conduct Authority that people must be aware they may lose their money. Although there is a risk there is also a risk in all currencies. It makes one think that this type of posturing from these authorities is their way of scaring people to not purchase this currency. Life is a risk as you never know what will happen today, tomorrow or next week.

‘Friedrich Hayek wrote a book, in a revision of the previous publication of 1976 called The Denationalisation of Money: The argument Refined in 1978 where he noted that in future years there would be a time when markets would converge on one or a limited number of monetary standards, on which institutions would base their notes’ *

*source Wikipedia.

In the publication he argued that instead of individuals being forced to use a specific currency issued by the national government instead there would be a time when institutions could release their own currencies. How right was his prediction in what we are seeing today?

We can now see these new currencies happening and being made available throughout the world and it seems that governments and their authorities want to regulate and stifle the choice of currency freedom. This must not be allowed to happen. In the digital world that we now live in and where technology and tech companies are trying to simplify the governments are trying to complicate. As I and many others in our party have said, the government must let the markets lead the recovery and that means allowing a freedom of choice in currency. The meddling in the economy by these faceless people in Whitehall must cease and let those in business drive the future of the nation's wealth through a free market economy.

Glenville Gogerly EADW - Libertarian Party Chairman.