The head of the European Primal Bank (ECB) thinks that central banks worldwide will not be property Bitcoin (BTC) whatever time shortly.

In a conference call with The Economist on Feb. 10, Christine Lagarde showed herself to be firmly risk-off when it came to decentralized cryptocurrencies.

"Out of the question"

"It'south very unlikely — I would say it's out of the question," she responded when asked well-nigh cardinal bank Bitcoin uptake.

Lagarde has long derided Bitcoin, which has surged at a fourth dimension when the ECB prints huge amounts of liquidity in an effort to shore up its financial jurisdiction subsequently a twelvemonth of regime-imposed lockdowns.

The ECB is withal "doing its best" to promote Bitcoin by accident, bestselling author of "The Bitcoin Standard" Saifedean Ammous says.

He referenced some other ECB event this week which yielded signs that consumers throughout the Eurozone bloc may be grappling with negative interest rates within years.

Quoted by Bloomberg, ane executive board member said that should the the institution create a digital euro, it should charge people who refuse to spend it.

The reason, Fabio Panetta argued, is that should the Eurozone experience another financial crisis, consumers might drain their bank accounts and bank directly with the digital euro's issuer.

"For example, in times of crisis it could be necessary to adjust the remuneration of the digital currency, just this could point that the central bank is anticipating financial tensions, leading to cocky-fulfilling instability," he added.

ECB balance canvas 1-month nautical chart. Source: TradingEconomics/ ECB

Making 'em pay

Every bit such, in order to proceed banks adrift, the digital euro, somewhat ironically, should punish those who try to avoid to safeguard their financial integrity.

Co-ordinate to Bloomberg, Panetta said that a tax of ii% would be insufficient to halt a bank run, and that the remuneration he spoke of should be "highly penalizing."

Perhaps unsurprsiingly, his comments drew derision from Bitcoin proponents who have long enjoyed the power relieve without paying for the privilege via negative interest rates.

"The ECB really doing its best to emphasize and advertise Bitcoin's value proposition," Ammous summarized.

It is not the commencement time that the primal bank has inadvertently advertised the benefits of using a currency not under its control.

As Cointelegraph reported, various officials have unmasked the unattractiveness of the euro as a financial proffer on multiple occasions.

 The digital euro is thought to be at least 4 years away, far behind experiments past Mainland china, which is already rolling out its digital yuan.