Christine Lagarde has become the latest prominent figure to blast bitcoin
Christine Lagarde has become the latest prominent figure to blast bitcoin.
The president of the European Central Bank took aim at the digital currency just days after the UK’s City watchdog warned savers they should be prepared to lose all their money if they buy it.
Lagarde said: ‘This is an asset and it’s a highly speculative asset which has conducted some funny business and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activity.’
She called for global regulation of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, which surfaced in 2010, became popular with criminals trading drugs and laundering money.
Transactions are not processed by a bank but recently it has fallen into mainstream use, with payments app Paypal now accepting it. Its value shot up from around $29,000 at the turn of the new year to almost $41,000 last week, and is now at $35,800.
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