Trichet, former ECB President: Bitcoin is not a currency

Jean-Claude Trichet’s position when it comes to Bitcoin is very similar to that of Axel Weber. And by the way, they are both former bank presidents, which might explain the similarity.

In his latest interview to Bloomberg, Mr. Trichet, born in 1942 and President of the European Central Bank from 2003 to 2011, explains about three main features of any currency and then tells that Bitcoin lacks at least one of them - established value. It oddly jumps up and down and the dynamics are so untypical for Trichet that he calls it a speculative instrument.

However, his tone notably changes when he tells about blockchain, the technology Bitcoin is based on, and about “decentralized ledgers” (although many would prefer to say “distributed ledgers”). But cryptocurrency, the experienced banker tells, is something we should consider dangerous, not useful.

The head of Russian Central Bank would support Mr. Trichet, as this country’s main regulator has taken almost the same position: yes to the blockchain, no to free Bitcoin payments.