China’s entry into the cryptocurrency industry seems to have turned several heads. While some view it as a catalyst to the adoption of cryptocurrencies, others believe that the country would gain financial leadership by capitalizing on the technology. Facebook’s Libra project is another widely discussed topic and more recently, fearing China and Facebook’s financial dominance, the European Union urged the European Central Bank to issue a public digital currency.
While the ECB is still looking into the matter, Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the ECB publicly asserted that he wasn’t very bullish about cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin, specifically.
Dissing the capabilities of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin isn’t new for officials, as the highest authorities from across the globe including the President of America have openly condemned Bitcoin. ECB’s former president is the latest to join the list as he stated that he was “strongly against Bitcoin.” Speaking at Caixin’s 10th annual conference he said,
“I think we are a little complacent. The currency itself is not real, with the characteristics that a currency must-have.”
Several speculated that cryptocurrencies are the future of money or the financial sector, Trichet, however, remains doubtful about the same.
Trichet who also served as the governor of the Bank of France pointed out the speculative nature of cryptocurrencies and said,
“Even if [the cryptocurrency] is supposed to be based on underlying assets, I am observing a lot of speculation. It is not healthy.”
Social media platform, Facebook’s cryptocurrency project, Libra doesn’t go unacknowledged as the project has garnered immense attention [mostly from regulators] across the globe. Trichet had a similar stance on Libra as he does for Bitcoin. He is “very much against” it.
