During a press conference yesterday, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), rejected the idea of incorporating Bitcoin into European reserves on the basis that it is too volatile and associated with anti-money laundering. Her comments followed the Governor of the Czech National Bank saying the central bank would consider inclusion of Bitcoin with a weighting of up to 5% of its reserves.
Governor Aleš Michl acknowledged Bitcoin’s volatility when discussing the potential holdings with the Financial Times. “If you compare my position with other bankers, then I’m the one entering the jungle, or the pioneer,” Michl told the FT. “I used to run an investment fund, so I’m a typical investment banker I would say, I like profitability.”
Although Czechia does not use the euro, it is a member of the ECB General Council. Mrs Lagarde said she was “confident that bitcoin will not enter the reserves of any of the central banks of the General Council.” The Czech central bank voted yesterday, with a statement that didn’t mention cryptocurrency. However, it confirmed that it will analyze the addition of other asset classes to its reserves but will not take action until the analysis is complete. It added it will continue to disclose all its investments on a quarterly and annual basis, so any changes will be clear to see.
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