the foreseeable future. nor am i convinced that central banks should begin issuing digital central bank money in the future. after all, such a step could have very far - reaching implications for the financial sector and thus also for monetary policy. nonetheless, current developments in this field are fascinating and are being discussed in depth in central bank circles and by the general public. in my welcome speech, i would therefore like to address the question of whether digital money could potentially supplant money as we know it today. 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches 2. virtual currencies for many people, the concept of money is still strongly characterised by their visual perception of banknotes and coins. it is thus no coincidence that the best - known virtual currency is called bitcoin. the word coin evokes an association with physical money. in recent times, we have experienced a real bitcoin hype, yet ultimately, the terms money and currency can only be applied to bitcoin and the other approximately 1, 500 " cryptocurrencies ” to a very limited extent. " money is as money does ” or, more specifically, “ money is a matter of functions ". these are common descriptions of how money can be categorised. there is broad consensus, however, is that money plays the role of a means of payment, a store of value and a unit of account. cryptocurrencies only fulfil these functions to a limited extent – with that in mind, the term crypto token is a better choice of word, which i will use from here on. to date, bitcoin and co have rarely been used as a means of payment. the network effect, which comes to bear in the case of cash, for instance, does not exist for crypto tokens. this is due, not least, to the fact that using them to make a payment is a relatively arduous task as it takes several minutes to make a transaction. this may still be acceptable when buying a car, say, but not when paying for goods at the point of sale. an important prerequisite for a monetary system to work is that its users have trust in its intrinsic value. in the case of banknotes, a central bank is the issuer of the notes, and this creates confidence. in the case of bitcoin, an attempt has been made to artificially build trust in the currency by setting an upper limit on total

jens weidmann : opening remarks – " fourth cash symposium of the deutsche bundesbank " opening remarks by dr jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the fourth cash symposium of the deutsche bundesbank, frankfurt am main, 14 february 2018. * * * 1. introduction ladies and gentlemen good morning and welcome to the deutsche bundesbank ’ s fourth cash symposium. i am delighted that this year, too, our cash symposium has met with such keen interest. admittedly, we have once again put together a very attractive programme for you, and for that i would like to thank you, mr thiele, and, of course, all of my colleagues from directorate general cash management who have helped to organise this event, not to mention all of our guest speakers. my former colleague from the bank of england, mervyn king, mockingly wrote in his book the end of alchemy that, “ god may have created the universe, but we mortals created paper money. " and like everything we mortals invent, one could add that paper money also has its advantages and disadvantages. nowadays, paper money, and cash in general, has to compete with other means of payment. technological advances have made cashless payments more convenient and efficient. nevertheless, cash still has an important role to play in today ’ s payments landscape – of that i am absolutely certain. the euro as a physical currency is an attractive and widely used means of payment, and that will continue to be the case in future. in germany, approximately three out of every four payments are still settled in cash at the point of sale. yet despite its affinity to cash, germany is by no means the spearhead in terms of cash usage in the euro area. in austria and the southern european countries, the share of cash payments is higher still. it is for this reason that the governing council of the ecb has also expressed a clear commitment to cash. but i am also convinced that the use of cash will change over time – in germany, too. other forms of payment, such as cashless payments, will tend to gain in importance. however, these changes are likely to be gradual and they won ’ t happen overnight. incidentally, i do not share the fear expressed by some that digital money, which is currently a subject of growing debate, is set to become a serious competitor for cash or bank deposits in