The European Central Bank (ECB) is under a lot of heat from the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community after they held an AskECB event on Twitter and said some controversial things. The ECB commentator behind the event was the ECB chief economist, Peter Praet.
As previously reported by IIB, during the #AskECB event a Twitter user asked the bank where they got the money for quantitative easing. Praet responded by saying that as a central bank, the ECB can simply create money out of thin air to buy assets.
For obvious reasons, this sparked an uproar in the crypto community and led to some questions on how the ECB feels about Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s #1 cryptocurrency which has a finite amount and is created and issued by math, not banks or people.
ECB Says “Bitcoin is not Money”
A Bitcoin enthusiast with the Twitter handle of RainDogDance took the AskECB opportunity to ask Praet what the ECB’s opinion of Bitcoin was. On behalf of the ECB, Praet replied by stating that Bitcoin is not money, but the technology behind it looks promising for many industries.
Praet: The technology behind it looks promising for many industries. But bitcoin is not money #AskECB https://t.co/rsNGOXAKI2
— European Central Bank (@ecb) March 12, 2019
The tweet above, along with the ECB’s tweet stating that they can simply create money caused a collective uproar among crypto community members.
One response came from a Twitter user who posted a trending picture from Venezuela that shows the streets full of cash. Along with the picture he stated that central banks who have the power to print money and rob people with inflation should not control or issue our money.
My opinion on #ECB and Central Banks: they are not banks
but they have great technology for banking industry creating new fake #FIAT money from new debt robbing people with inflation and negative interest like in #Venezuela #AskECB about #QE Quantitative Easing #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/MxpT0LEZhx— João Paulo Gomes (#NOBCASH) (@BTCtradePt) March 14, 2019
Another disgruntled Twitter user proclaimed that while Bitcoin may not be money now, it can and probably will be over time, stating that nothing becomes globally accepted money overnight.
Nothing becomes a globally accepted money overnight. Bitcoin is a nascent money that's increasing in adoption because of its strong comparative advantages over fiat monies and even gold. 50 years from now people will wonder why anyone used the "Euro"https://t.co/uaJopJDdd4
— Vijay Boyapati (@real_vijay) March 13, 2019
Do you think Bitcoin will replace the Euro and other fiat currencies as money in the near future? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
