Tim Cook spoke with French newspaper Les Echos where he said that currencies should stay in the hands of governments, not private companies.
Digital Currency
Back in September Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey talked about cryptocurrency, saying: “We’re watching cryptocurrency. We think it’s interesting. We think it has interesting long-term potential.” But today Mr. Cook said that Apple has no plans to create its own cryptocurrency:
No. I really think that a currency should stay in the hands of countries. I’m not comfortable with the idea of a private group setting up a competing currency…A private company shouldn’t be looking to gain power this way…Currency, like defence, needs to stay in the hands of countries, that’s the heart of their mission…We elect our representatives to assume their governmental responsibilities. Companies aren’t elected and should not be going in this direction.
Although he didn’t directly mention the company by name, he’s clearly taking a shot at Facebook, which has plans to launch its own form of cryptocurrency called Libra. Libra has faced criticism from governments, with France and Germany blocking it from operating in Europe.
Meanwhile, economists at the International Monetary Fund recently commented that policymakers should scrutinize digital currencies and suggested central banks need to compete with private companies by releasing their own digital currency before ones like Libra take hold.
Further Reading:
I am so sick of Apple and their myopic Corn Flakes commodity iOS and the toys and now the attention to being a “services” read:greed company. Why doesn’t this milk-toast idiot Tim Cook deal with the elephant in the room – the fact that Catalina is a HUGE SCREW-UP for the few pros left that depend on Apple for media. Avid and indeed Garageband/Logic plug-ins crash the system now. There is no excuse except Timmy’s lame lack of attention to pros ever since the Ash Can garbage came out proving Tim has no clue (nor did Ive) about functionality in the studio. Apple can’t write code for sh*t anymore – bug after bug and now this on a major OS update. Inexcusable. Word on the street in Hollywood for film and music is – don’t upgrade Mac OS – they pulled another disaster out of the hat.
Cook is absolutely right.