Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) has made her stance on cryptocurrency clear.
- Lagarde was interviewed on College Tour, a Dutch T.V. show, and believes them to be “highly speculative, very risky assets” according to reports from Politico.
- Lagarde is quoted as saying “I have said all along the crypto assets are highly speculative, very risky assets. My very humble assessment is that it is worth nothing. It is based on nothing, there is no underlying assets to act as an anchor of safety.”
- In contrast, Lagarde explains that a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the form of a digital euro would be an entirely different ballgame.
ECBs Plan To Fight Inflation
- According to Lagarde, the ECB is planning to increase interest rates in July to “slow inflation”.
- Current market expectations will see a 25 basis-point increase, rather than a 50 basis-point increase proposed by the Dutch Central Bank.