The Disruption of Cryptocurrencies as a Method of Payment and Its Implications for the Financial System: Evidence from the United States

Abstract

In the past decade, the emergence of Blockchain has questioned certain financial institutions. Cryptocurrency upsurge was aimed at conducting financial transactions with more efficiency while being safer, easier, faster, and cheaper. Thus, over-intermediation in finance has been highlighted by Blockchain emergence. Here, a SWOT will be carried out to examine Blockchain and cryptocurrencies, their monetary role, their impact on a financial system based on banking intermediation, and their influence on the future of central banking. About the United States, this paper concludes that cryptocurrencies will eventually spread as a method of payment, which could lead them to be the new form of money under some assumptions. The eventual adoption of blockchain technology by central banks through the introduction of official digital currencies could favor the creation of a more inclusive financial system in the future.