Christine Lagarde, the president of the ECB, says that crypto is worth nothing and should be regulated to steer people away from it. Instead, she touts a digital euro as a safer store of value.
According to a Bloomberg article published today, Lagarde said on Dutch television that she was worried for ordinary people who might speculate their life savings on the crypto asset class. She said that she was worried about people who:
“have no understanding of the risks, who will lose it all and who will be terribly disappointed, which is why I believe that that should be regulated.”
Lagarde is well known for her scepticism of crypto, and she has made many derogatory remarks about the space over recent years, and has not changed her stance at all. Unlike U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen, whose leaked remarks stated that the Biden Executive Order on crypto would “support responsible innovation”.
Lagarde made the following statements on Dutch television:
“My very humble assessment is that it is worth nothing, it is based on nothing, there is no underlying asset to act as an anchor of safety,”
She added:
“The day when we have the central bank digital currency out, any digital euro, I will guarantee — so the central bank will (be) behind it and I think it’s vastly different than many of those things,”
Opinion
Lagarde continually repeats that crypto and bitcoin are worth nothing. She says that there is nothing underlying them that can act as a backing if their worth is called into question.
Bitcoin, at least, is not at all like the fiat currency of which she is a figurehead. It does not need backing because it is an unhackable code that guarantees that only 21 million bitcoins will ever be minted, and it assures that the emission of new bitcoins will only ever be as stated in the code.
The euro, of which she is the ultimate defender in her role as the president of the European Central Bank, is manipulated by the bank, in that more euros are printed whenever it feels necessary.
As more euros are printed, the currency debases, and the ordinary people that hold it see their purchasing power diminish accordingly.
Lagarde is most vociferous in promoting the coming, in the next 4 years, of the new euro central bank digital currency (CBDC), saying with pride that the central bank will be behind it.
A CBDC is a game-changing technology that will completely strip away the last vestiges of freedom for the individual. China is already implementing a CBDC so that its citizens can be totally controlled.
It does this by eliminating privacy, given that the central bank would control all wallets individually, and would be able to micro manage each individual citizen.
It would also take away any existing checks and limits from governments and allow them to spend as much as they like, giving them complete and utter control, not only of the economy, but of the lives of all those affected by it.
Bitcoin is the one private digital asset that is unable to be manipulated by governments or any other entity. It gives the holder the ability to be their own bank and hold wealth that cannot be touched by any central bank or government.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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