The European Central Bank joins the "cryptosceptic party" (also for its own interest) and launches a heavy attack on Bitcoin.
Ulrich Bindseil, general manager of market infrastructure, e Jurgen Schaaf, markets advisor to the ECB, wrote bluntly that bitcoin is currently experiencing an “artificially induced last gasp before the road to irrelevance.”
The precipitous drop in the price of Bitcoin in recent years and the implosion of the major crypto institutions (here I tell you about resounding crash of FTX) appear to show a black picture. Even if prices stabilize, ECB officials say, the fate of the cryptocurrency is sealed.
Bitcoin, the (off-key) swan song?
In November 2022 the value of bitcoin peaked at $69.000: just 7 months later the vertical drop to 17.000 to then settle around 20.000 dollars. Now a new decline, in what appears to be a dead-end spiral, the authors of the post said.
And that's not all: in an unusually harsh invective (for officials who are always "packaged" like those of the ECB) came fiery observations. Bitcoin has been described as a “questionable means of payment,” and that wasn't the worst assessment.
The world's largest cryptocurrency has been at the center of illicit online transactions, scams, theft and money laundering for years, the authors insist. And the blame, they add, lies with the large "crypto whales" who keep the euphoria alive only to exploit the speculative bubble. I gloss over the environmental criticisms of bitcoin mining and other things: if you want, read their article here.
Is this a “niet” for cryptocurrencies in general?
On the topic of cryptocurrency regulation, the ECB pair remains skeptical. And he even criticizes the efforts of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs to make access to Bitcoin easier: they would have conveyed the erroneous belief that investments based on the cryptocurrency are "solid".
How right or wrong are the two officials? Can we consider them assessments made on the basis of data, or "political" opinions?
A note from the Bank of International Settlements recently highlighted that the vast majority of people who have invested in bitcoins have lost money. The report speculates that (predominantly young and male) crypto app owners invested in cryptocurrencies not because of a strong belief in decentralized finance or the demise of big banks, but because they were simply looking to make a quick buck.
ECB officials don't think so at all. And to you?
