Head of European Central Bank urges for putting in place Bitcoin regulation. Says Bitcoin is one of those assets which are extremely speculative which is causing turmoil in business. Appeals to global leaders to immediately draw regulatory framework to bring Bitcoin into regulation. This suggests that initially Bitcoin can be regulated under G7 and then under G20 and so on.
Christine Lagarde is currently the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) who has urged global leaders to put in place Bitcoin regulation.
She was being interviewed on Wednesday for a conference arranged by Reuters in which she talked about Bitcoin regulation. In her interview, Lagarde said that Bitcoin is one of those assets which are extremely speculative. She said that Bitcoin has single handily confused the business and industry. She said that Bitcoin, being an asset, is causing a mockery of global business. One day Bitcoin is reaching US$ 42,000 value and the next day it is down at US$ 30,000, she added.
Bitcoin cannot be treated as an asset, she added. Lagarde further stated that the majority of criminals, terrorists, and the corrupt use Bitcoin for their ulterior motives.
Regarding the question, whether Bitcoin should be regulated or not Lagarde stated that if the majority thinks Bitcoin is an asset then yes. She said that like every asset class, Bitcoin should be regulated and it has to be done at once. She specifically stated that Bitcoin regulatory framework will need to be put in place globally. In order to start the regulation process, initially, Bitcoin can be regulated by G7 and then by G20 and so on.
(G7 is a group of countries of which the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Italy are members of. The Group conducts periodic meetings and Annual Summits where they discuss and debate international economic and monetary issues. Earlier, the Group was called G8 wherein Russia was the eighth member. However, Russia’s participation was suspended in the year 2014 and since then the Group is called G-7.)
Lagarde emphasized that the time for bringing in reforms is now and cannot be delayed further.
Later on when the crypto community, in particular Bitcoin protagonists, learned about Lagarde’s remarks, they heavily criticized ECB’s President. Crypto Expert, Dan Tapeiro remarked that this was embarrassing that the head of a region’s central bank does not think Bitcoin is an asset. He advised Lagarde to do her homework and first learn what Bitcoin is all about.
Meanwhile, Anthony Pompliano of Morgan Creek published a video in which he explained that Bitcoin, being a currency, is highly regulated. He further explained that it is only an assumption that Bitcoin is rather being used for illicit activities. In fact, it is one of those currencies which is hardly used for illegal purposes in contrast with fiat currencies, he stated.
Another mindset of people was of those who counter-attacked ECB. They accused the ECB is in fact involved in conducting funny business.
However, at the end of her interview, Lagarde also revealed that in the next 5 years, Europe too would be able to launch its own digitalized Euro.
