Bitcoin, the ugly duckling – Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), feels that the old economic system is on the verge of exhaustion. From the start of 2021, she set the tone by denigrating Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies , after having praised her dear digital euro at the end of last year. This does not prevent him from putting another layer against the king of cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, a business for speculators?
In an interview given to the BFMTV channel on February 7, Christine Lagarde returned to the dramatic situation of the world economy, which was already shaky and in debt even before the health crisis of the Coronavirus.
When the subject of crypto-assets comes to the fore, the President of the ECB gets angry and immediately announces the color: Immediate Edge scam is not frequent and has no vocation of currency.
“[Bitcoin] is not a currency. Cryptoassets are not a currency. It is a highly speculative asset class.“
Even if she claims that nothing „poses a problem“ to her in this sector, cryptocurrencies often participate „in the financing of a number of businesses that take place on the dark web“ according to her.
A refrain that is well known in the cryptosphere, despite its inaccuracy – illicit activity would have represented only 0.34% of transaction volumes in 2020.
Stablecoins: good, if you want to …
Since stablecoins look a lot like her beloved central bank digital currency (MNBC), Christine Lagarde is slightly more accommodating :
„Where we can no longer talk about money, it is Diem, which we used to call Libra, which was Facebook’s attempt to set up an exchange vector which would be equivalent to one [American] dollar (…)“
However, whether for cryptos or stablecoins, for the President of the ECB nothing beats regulation so strict that it would almost make it lose interest in this sector which is innovating at full speed:
“It is imperative that, if an activity is carried out by a private actor, (…) if it is similar to money, it is subject to exactly the same rules, (…) to exactly the same supervision mechanisms. „
Words that will shudder in the back of any crypto-enthusiast: everyone is free to flee inflationary fiat currencies for very good reasons, in particular to avoid the stiff, cumbersome and expensive regulations that make fiat currencies as slow as they are. obsolete in our digital world.