The Bank of Canada is keeping a "close eye" on the risks posed by new forms of electronic money, such as bitcoin, senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins said yesterday during a speech in Waterloo, Ontario.

"People who use these technologies need to be aware of the risk of putting their trust in an e-money scheme that is lightly regulated with limited or no user protection," Wilkins said.

But she also argued that e-money is currently "not big enough to pose material risk to financial stability"