The ‘traditional’ currency issued by the central bank, also known as ‘fiat 1  Financial stability implications from FinTech supervisory and regulatory issues that merit authorities’ attention, 2016, Financial Stability Board  Page 3 of 11  money’, has the advantage that its issuer is a trusted third party.
However, it is conceivable that other trusted third parties may emerge issuing virtual currency in the future. Virtual currencies that utilise advanced cryptography have enabled the issuance of private crypto-currency. In particular, Bitcoin and its underlying enabling technology, the blockchain protocol, has created the capability to exchange value on a peer-to-peer basis.