Bitcoin critic, ECB boss Lagarde said her son ‘neglected’, lost money on crypto: report

European Central Bank President and prominent Bitcoin (BTC) critic Christine Lagarde has shared a family story about failed cryptocurrency investments, according to a Reuters report.

Lagarde told students at Frankfurt's city hall on Nov. 24 that her son had “almost lost” his investment in crypto assets despite constant warnings, Reuters reported.

“He ignored me royally, which is his right,” Lagarde said, adding that he “lost almost all the money he invested.”

The head of the ECB did not reveal the sum of her son's loss, saying that it was not “a lot”, but only “about 60%” of the crypto investments. “So when I talked to him about it again, he reluctantly accepted that I was right,” Lagarde said.

“As you say, I have a very low opinion of cryptos […] People are free to invest their money where they want, people are free to speculate as much as they want, (but) people should not be free to engage in criminally prohibited trades and businesses.

Lagarde is known in the cryptocurrency community for her anti-crypto stance. In the year In 2022, the head of the ECB argued that cryptocurrencies “have no value” because their assets are “based on nothing”. In the year In 2021, the president of the ECB also predicted that central banks around the world will soon not hold Bitcoin.

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While criticizing cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Lagarde has emerged as a major fan of the central bank's digital currency concept. In April 2023, Lagarde acknowledged that a potential digital euro would be used “in some way” to regulate everyday payments.

This is a developing story, and more information will be added as it becomes available.

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