Have at It, Libra: There’s No Apple Cryptocurrency on the Horizon
Don’t expect American tech powerhouse Apple to launch a cryptocurrency any time soon … or ever for that matter.
Well, at least not while the company’s chief executive officer Tim Cook is at the helm. The CEO noted in a new interview with French financial newspaper Les Échos that he believes states, and not private entities like firms, should remain society’s monetary masters.
Asked by the publication whether Apple was planning to launch its own money, Cook said “No,” adding:
“I seriously think money needs to stay in the hands of nation states. I am not comfortable with the idea of a private group creating a competing money. A private enterprise doesn’t have to strive for power like this. Money, like national defense, needs to remain the domain of nation states, it’s at the heart of their mission. We elect our representatives to undertake government responsibilities. Businesses or private groups are not elected, they don’t have to enter this field.”
That’s open and shut as far as sentiment goes, and many people in mainstream circles would agree with Cook’s positions here. Could his thinking evolve on money in the coming years? Of course. But there’s no debating where Cook currently stands on the matter.
To be sure, reasonable people can disagree on monetary subjects. Yet there is no question that with the advance of top cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether — combined with Facebook’s major Libra splash — that “money,” what it is and what it can be, is now a matter that the largest organizations are increasingly taking positions on.
Apple Pay VP Was Talking Quite Differently Last Month
At Apple the buck stops with Tim Cook as far as the company’s wider strategies go, so when he says money should remain in the realm of states, it’s a bright flashing signal that Apple isn’t making its own rendition of the Libra for the foreseeable future.
Still, it appears the tech giant is keeping its ears to the ground where the possibilities cryptocurrencies are concerned, at least according to comments made by Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey in September. When interviewed by CNN at a private event in San Francisco on September 5th, Bailey said:
“We’re watching cryptocurrency … We think it’s interesting. We think it has interesting long-term potential, but we’re primarily focused on what consumers are using today.”
The payments arm of the massive company, Apple Pay made waves earlier this year when it unveiled the Apple Card, a fee-less titanium debit card that users could link to their Apple Pay accounts.
Some saw the new product as a potential challenge to traditional banks. Yet combined with Cook’s latest remarks, it seems that banks — and not money itself — marks the limit of what Apple is willing to shakeup right now.
Again, though, the company isn’t totally burying its head regarding the possibilities around cryptocurrencies.
“If you look at QR code payment solutions, if you look at the long-term potential of cryptocurrency, I think you’ll continue to see that change over time,” Bailey told CNN.
Federal Reserve Is Asked If Dollar Will Go Crypto
Apple may not have to shakeup the money game itself if the central banking system of the United States does so first.
There’s nothing concrete on that front at the moment. But American lawmakers did notably send Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell a series of questions this week that centered around any plans the Fed might have digitizing the dollar as a cryptocurrency.
“While some Americans currently use cryptocurrency for speculative purposes, usage of digital assets may well increasingly align with that of paper money in the future,” the congressmen said.
How Chairman Powell will respond remains to be seen, but it does look like the tides are steadily changing regardless.
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