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ECB downplays importance of Bitcoin
By EUobserver
Digital currencies such as Bitcoin will not replace normal money, the deputy head of the European Central bank, Vitor Constancio, has said. "Private 'cryptocurrencies' can never prevail as general money substitutes," he said in Rome on Thursday, Reuters reports. He said they were "not a currency but just a commodity used as a speculative asset" or a "restricted medium of exchange" used by criminals and failed states.