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When it comes to Bitcoin, you can expect a bit of cynicism.  
The extensive use of the crypto currency by criminal underworld is one reason to be cynical, but there are also advantages of using Bitcoin, and I list them below.  
 

• Bitcoin enables anonymous transactions, not linked to central governments.
• Bitcoin fees are lower than bank fees – including cross currencies
• Bitcoins shuts out traditional banking networks and their risks– there is no "central store" such as with a bank holding 10% deposit ratio.  
• No bank account required for Bitcoin.

But can you answer the question?  What exactly Bitcoin and other crypto currency can do that you can’t do without it?

When you pose that question, then it begins to look like a solution to a problem that you never knew you had.  

And that is how I intended to finish this article.  But when I finished writing this piece and got up for a coffee.  Before I even had a chance to pour the hot water, a headline flashed up on email from Thursday:  â€œBank of England's digital currency 'a solution in search of a problem'”.  

Exactly. 

charlie.palmer@ifac.eu