Cryptocurrencies Are a “Great Concern”: Ireland Central Bank Official

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Another central bank official takes a stand against cryptocurrencies. 

Central Bank Officials Oppose Crypto 

The director-general of financial conduct at Ireland’s central bank has aired negative views on cryptocurrencies. 

Speaking to Bloomberg, Derville Rowland said that the growing interest in digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum was a point “of great concern.”

“Crypto assets are quite a speculative, unregulated investment,” she added, before warning that crypto investors should be “really aware they could lose the whole of that investment.”

Rowland leads the Irish central bank’s regulatory efforts and has recently been appointed as the chairwoman of the investment management standing committee of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

Rowland is not the only central bank official to voice an aversion towards cryptocurrencies. Last week, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey described the asset class as “dangerous,” remarking that cryptocurrencies have “no intrinsic value.” Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda also went on record against Bitcoin last week, commenting on its “extraordinarily high” volatility. “It’s barely used as a means of settlement,” he said. Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank said that Bitcoin was “highly speculative” and pointed out that it has been used for money laundering at a conference earlier this year. 

The warnings from central bankers come amid a surge in the popularity of cryptocurrencies. The global cryptocurrency market cap topped $2.5 trillion earlier this month, up from $779.5 billion at the start of the year. A decline in prices has put the total value of the space closer to $1.6 trillion today, with Bitcoin accounting for about 41% of the market. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this feature owned ETH, ETH2X-FLI, and several other cryptocurrencies. 

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