The officials of the European Central Bank or ECB have recently issued a statement claiming that Bitcoin is on the road to becoming irrelevant. The Bank regulator has also marked Bitcoin as an inappropriate mode of payment.
The statement has arrived during a time when the cryptocurrency market is thinking about recovering from the cascading impact of the FTX disaster.
It is important to note that Bitcoin’s value has declined from ATH of $69K last year to $2K in the current year. A new blog post published by Ulrich Bindseil and Jurgen Schaaf slammed Bitcoin, claiming that the price appreciation was based on speculation. The blog titled Bitcoin last Stand is now making rounds on social media sites.
ECB Slams Bitcoin for its Technical and Financial Shortcomings
The Blog post mentioned earlier has gone on to issue criticisms of Bitcoin in terms of technological limitations and conceptual design. The blog has called it slow and expensive. At the same time, ECB officials have also marked down Bitcoin as questionable in terms of payments substitute.
They went on to claim that Bitcoin does not generate a cash flow like real estate. On the other hand, it also does not issue equities, and it cannot be used in the physical world like commodities. Therefore, ECB officials have concluded that Bitcoin is purely based on speculation.
It is important to note the ECB has already introduced MiCA, a legislative framework directed at cryptocurrency regulations. Some ECB affiliates, such as Mark Branson, the president of FSA Germany, have gone on record to call crypto firms freeloaders and crooks. ESMA has issued a warning against cryptocurrency trading.
Meanwhile, ECB President Christian Lagarde has sided with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on her negative stance on cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency community members claim that the statement of Bitcoin is going toward irrelevance, suggesting that ECB is officially accepting its relevance in the current financial markets.