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Christine Lagarde opposes Bitcoin Reserve, sparks debate – Here’s why
The European Central Bank (ECB) President, Christine Lagarde, has sparked a heated debate in the cryptocurrency community after expressing her opposition to using Bitcoin as a reserve asset among member countries. Lagarde emphasized that reserves have to be liquid, secure, and free from suspicion of money laundering or criminal activity.
However, the crypto community swiftly countered her argument, contending that Bitcoin meets all these criteria. Andre Dragosch, Head of Research at Bitwise Europe, argued that Bitcoin is more liquid than many traditional assets, citing that SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) trades around $22 billion in volume per day, whereas Bitcoin had a trading volume of over $54 billion in the past 24 hours.
Furthermore, Dragosch emphasized that miners secure BTC, the most decentralized network with no counterparty risk. He added that one would need an enormous amount, upward of $20 billion, to corrupt BTC’s system, rendering it a relatively safer option.
Regarding criminal activity, crypto accounted for less than 1% of crime-related cases according to the 2024 Chainalysis report. Dragosch stressed that only a minuscule fraction of all on-chain transactions are related to illicit activities, including money laundering. Bitcoin is merely a small part of this.
Another user, Daniel Sempere, echoed Dragosch’s sentiment, reiterating that the Bitcoin network secures $2 trillion in wealth and has never been hacked.
It remains unclear whether Czech Republic’s Central Bank Governor, Ales Michl, will change his stance on adding BTC to its reserves in light of Lagarde’s warning.
Source: ambcrypto.com
