Although major entrepreneurs have shown their support for Bitcoin, regulators, at least in Ireland, seem to have taken a step away from the asset. According to the governor of the Irish central bank, Bitcoin investors must be prepared to “lose all their money.”
The governor, Gabriel Makhlouf said he was worried about consumers making the “right choices” and that he does not see “financial stability issues at the moment arising from Bitcoin itself.” The official noted that people acknowledged that Bitcoin was an asset, but he did not understand why people choose to invest in crypto.
Personally, I’m not sure why people invest in those sorts of assets, but they see them as assets clearly.
Nevertheless, the governor emphasized consumer protection and said:
Our role is to make sure that consumers are protected.
This would not be the first time that a central bank authority has dismissed the asset. Last year, Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, stated that he found it hard to see how Bitcoin had any intrinsic value. He previously ruled out the use of stablecoins, Bitcoin, and other cryptos as a means of use for traditional payments.
Recently, BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens said that “investors must be cognizant” that the digital asset “may well break down.”
Bitcoin price today was $37,154.14 according to CoinGecko. The surge in price comes after a dip that took the price under $30,000 in the past week. Other than Elon Musk’s Bitcoin tag on his Twitter bio, the infamous WSB-GameStop short squeeze could have fueled the latest rally. Such events seem to “challenge” the “financial elite”, according to Paolo Ardoino. The CTO of Bitfinex further said in a release shared with AMBCrypto:
An increasing recognition of bitcoin’s distinctive traits should outlast the current GameStop interest. While nascent, cryptocurrencies have the potential to invert the power structure of inequitable financial markets that are weighted against retail investors.
