FRANKFURT (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday called for global regulation of Bitcoin, saying digital currency had been used for money laundering in some cases and that any loopholes needed to be closed.
Bitcoin has come out of its niche in recent years and is now bought by normal people, mutual funds and even large corporations. Some have even taken out loans to buy more of the cryptocurrency, the value of which has multiplied almost tenfold since last March.
But its largely anonymous nature has raised concerns that it could be used for money laundering and other illegal activities.
“(Bitcoin) is a highly speculative asset, which has carried out fun business and some interesting and totally reprehensible money laundering activity,” Lagarde said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.
Lagarde did not provide specific examples of money laundering cases, but said he understood there had been criminal investigations into illegal activities. She did not elaborate.
The cryptocurrency sector is still slightly supervised or unregulated, although global standards have emerged in areas such as money laundering (AML).
He joined several regulators around the world to call for the implementation of global standards for cryptocurrencies.
“It simply came to our notice then. This must be applied and agreed … worldwide because if there is a leak, that leak will be used, ”said Lagarde.
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Report by Alessandra Galloni, Francesco Canepa and Balazs Koranyi; Edited by Catherine Evans