European Central Bank President Calls Cryptocurrencies Worthless

President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde (photo: doc. Antara)

JAKARTA – In an event on Dutch TV, the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde stated that cryptocurrencies are not supported by anything. According to Lagarde, crypto has no value. Hence these crypto assets should be regulated to prevent people from losing their life savings.

Lagarde expressed concern about people “who have no understanding of risk, who will lose it all. And who will be very disappointed, which is why I believe that it (crypto) should be regulated."

Furthermore, Lagarde admits that she is skeptical about the value of crypto assets, compared to central bank digital currencies (CBDC) such as the digital euro, which the European Central Bank (ECB) plans to issue in the next few years.

“My very simple judgment is that it is worthless, not based on anything, no underlying asset to act as a security anchor,” Lagarde said as quoted by Bitcoin.com News.

Bloomberg reports that the statement from the European Central Bank executive comes at a time when the crypto market is experiencing tough times when major coins such as bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) are down 50 percent from their peak prices in 2021.

Cryptocurrencies are also facing increasing pressure and scrutiny from regulators around the world. Cryptocurrencies are said to threaten the country's financial system.

In contrast to cryptocurrencies, Lagarde stated that the CBDC would be backed by a central bank.

"The day we issue a central bank digital currency, any digital euro, I'll guarantee — so the central bank will be behind it and I think that's very different from a lot of that stuff," Lagrde said.

On the other hand, the President of the European Central Bank admitted that he did not own any crypto assets. Contrary to his views, one of Lagarde's sons is rumored to have invested in cryptocurrency. Lagarde admits she is watching her son very carefully, as reported by Bitcoin.com News.