ahmed naseer : the need to regulate virtual currency keynote speech by mr ahmed naseer, governor of the maldives monetary authority, at the 5th maldives islamic banking & amp ; finance industry conference, male, 27 november 2018. * * * chairperson, distinguished speakers, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, assalam alaikum. good morning. i am deeply honored to speak at this important and significant conference, one which is very relevant and important in the development of the financial sector of the maldives. as the regulator of banks, and financial institutions in the country, maldives monetary authority is grateful to the organizers of this conference, and congratulate you all for completing five years of this series. mma is proud to be a partner in promoting and developing islamic finance in the maldives, and assure you that we will continue this journey together with all our stake holders. ladies and gentlemen. bitcoin, the world ’ s first cryptocurrency ( or virtual currency ), long obscured with a reputation as a fringe economic phenomenon, has gone mainstream. the skyrocketing price in late 2017 has made bitcoin a household name. proposed in a 2008 white paper by software developer satoshi nakomoto, bitcoin was an attempt to enable peer - to - peer “ electronic cash ” as an alternative to conventional banking in the wake of the global financial crisis. when released in 2009, the virtual currency had a value of less than one u. s. penny per “ coin. ” however, just nine years later, one bitcoin reached $ 17, 900 in the middle of december 2017, and the cryptocurrency ’ s market capitalization is now over $ 200 billion. one might think this as a normal product circle, but the reality is, cryptocurrency has been a favorable payment instrument over the decade. and the usage of cryptocurrencies will be as common as the use of normal bank notes and payment instruments. just recently, canada ’ s first bitcoin - backed loan has been issued during the first week of november this year. it is not a false assumption that some of the maldivians even own cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. we have already seen some business entities even trying to introduce cryptocurrency wallets into maldives. it is just a matter of time before someone starts mining cryptocurrency in the maldives. therefore, it would be unwise not to consider

jens weidmann : the financial crisis, ten years on - what have we learned? speech by dr jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at ruhr university bochum, bochum, 22 may 2017. * * * 1. introductory remarks professor paul professor roos ladies and gentlemen students i ’ m well aware that i ’ m not the first central banker to speak before you in the “ ikf impulse ” series. indeed, my predecessor axel weber delivered his third - to - last speech as bundesbank president here in april 2011. i, too, will deliver my third - to - last speech today - but that ’ s just for the month of may. incidentally, his speech was titled “ the role of economic policy after the crisis ", which, from today ’ s perspective, seems somewhat premature - after all, the euro area had not yet put the crisis behind it at that time. quite the opposite, in fact - the crisis had yet to come to a head in the euro area. as the situation in greece and other member states progressively worsened, some even went as far as to question the continued existence of monetary union. with that in mind, “ after the crisis ” is more likely referring to the global financial and economic crisis, which began in 2007 and reached its crescendo in autumn 2008 with the collapse of lehman brothers and the severe economic downturn that followed. to that extent, it is not premature to talk to you here today about the financial crisis ten years on and to ask what we have learned. however, i will scarcely be able to do justice to the complexities of the crisis, complete with its causes, implications and the lessons we can learn from it, in just over 45 minutes. i would therefore like to focus on aspects that are especially relevant from my perspective as a monetary policymaker, while noting that the observations i am about to make are not exhaustive. 2. the significance of the liability principle ladies and gentlemen if you give some thought to the causes of the crisis, it becomes clear that the financial crisis and the later euro - area crisis follow a common theme : the liability principle was undermined in the run - up to both events. walter eucken, founder of the freiburg school and a pioneer of the social market economy, condensed the liability principle into a simple formula : “ whoever reaps the benefits must also