Son of ECB chief Lagarde gambles away with cryptocurrencies

2023-11-24T14:35:58.479Z

Highlights: Son of ECB chief Lagarde gambles away with cryptocurrencies. Lagarde herself is considered a fierce critic of cyber currencies. "He royally ignored me, which is his privilege," she said. Overall, however, the amount involved was not very high. "No one should have the right to participate in criminally sanctioned trade and business," Lagarde said. The European Union (EU) became the first major economic region to agree on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The set of rules, called "Markets in Crypto Assets" (MiCA), came into force this June.

Words from ECB chief Christine Lagarde often carry a lot of weight – but this apparently does not necessarily apply within her own family: The central banker is very critical of cryptocurrencies. Nevertheless, her son invested.

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ECB President Lagarde, here in conversation with Christian Lindner. The finance minister did not speculate with cryptocurrencies, but (only) with the Climate and Transformation Fund

Photo: JOHANNA GERON / REUTERS

Wisdom does not protect against folly – especially not when knowledge is apparently somewhat unevenly distributed within a family. For example, a son of ECB President Christine Lagarde – who has had a stellar career in financial policy and is currently the euro's top guardian – gambled away by investing in highly speculative cryptocurrencies. This anecdote was revealed by the head of the central bank on Friday in Frankfurt.

"He royally ignored me, which is his privilege," she said. Lagarde herself is considered a fierce critic of cyber currencies. "He's lost almost all the money he invested." Overall, however, the amount involved was not very high. "When I had another conversation with him about it, he reluctantly accepted that I was right," she noted. The central bank chief did not say which of her sons, who are both over 30 years old, had speculated.

Lagarde calls for strict rules

"As you can see, I have a very low opinion of cryptos," Lagarde noted. Everyone has the right to invest their money where they want. And everyone is allowed to speculate as much as they want. But she added, "No one should have the right to participate in criminally sanctioned trade and business." Lagarde has historically advocated strong regulation of cyber currencies to protect consumers and prevent criminal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

Last year, the European Union (EU) became the first major economic region to agree on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The set of rules, called "Markets in Crypto Assets" (MiCA), came into force this June. However, the complete implementation of the regulation is expected to take until the end of 2024. From Lagarde's point of view, MiCA regulation should only be a first step. She had repeatedly argued for global regulation of cyber currencies.

bid/dpa/Reuters

Son of ECB chief Lagarde gambles away with cryptocurrencies

Lagarde calls for strict rules

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