The former ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, while speaking at Caixin’s 10th annual conference on Sunday in Beijing, made skeptical remarks about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. According to the South China Morning Post report, Trichet said that buying or any other cryptocurrency amounts to pure speculation.
Former ECB boss is strongly against bitcoin
During a panel discussion, Trichet said that he is strongly against the bitcoin. “The cryptocurrency itself is not real, with the characteristics that a currency must have,” he added. The decentralization nature of cryptocurrencies has been criticized by central banks around the world.
Earlier, the ECB’s board member Benoit Soeure echoed a similar opinion when he said that cryptocurrencies could challenge the supremacy of the US dollar.
Is Bitcoin a threat to monetary sovereignty?
The former president of ECB’s comments about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were not surprising as several central banks have shared their concerns about cryptocurrencies and bitcoin and how it poses a threat to monetary sovereignty. Many countries are considering to issue their own central bank-backed digital currencies (CBDC) to compete with decentralized cryptocurrencies.
As reported earlier, the head of the Russian Central Bank also said that private cryptocurrencies could damage the monetary policy and threaten the financial stability of the country.
