Former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet expressed his views regarding crypto by saying that he is “strongly against Bitcoin.”
Former ECB president against Bitcoin
The European Central Bank acts as the Central Bank of the 19 countries in the European Union (EU), each of which has adopted the euro as their national currency. The bank’s former president Jean-Claude Trichet expressed his views about Bitcoin in a panel discussion on the third day of the Caixin Summit that was held in China. Trichet served as the bank’s president for a period of eight years between 2003 and 2011.
He said that he was strongly against Bitcoin while noting that they have have been “complacent” regarding the assets. He added that the assets are not real with the “characteristics” that a currency must possess. The former ECB president also observed that there was a lot of speculation in the markets, which is “not healthy.”
The former ECB president also said that he was against Facebook’ Libra as well. This feeling was resonated with ECB board member Benoit Coeure who had said earlier that the project was a “wake-up call” for central banks.
The ECB is currently exploring the feasibility of issuing a central bank digital currency. According to a Reuters’ report, progress could be made in the coming months. The report observed that a meeting of EU finance ministers was held on the same day. The meeting’s aim was to discuss the EU’s answer to Libra.
Following the meeting, the French Finance Minister admitted that it would take time for the ECB to roll-out a digital currency. Regardless, he added that it does not stop them from “working and having results next year.”
Featured image by Flickr.