A European lawmaker has urged authorities to impose a ban on cryptocurrencies citing the current crisis in the banking sector as the reason. Johan Van Overtveldt, former Belgian Finance Minister, believes that these assets do not provide any economic or social value.
Former Belgian Finance Minister Suggests Banning Decentralized Digital Currencies
Member of the European Parliament Johan Van Overtveldt has insisted that governments should ban cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The call from him comes amid a crisis sparked by the bankruptcy of several banking institutions, including two crypto banks in the US.
“Another lesson to be learned from the current banking shock. Enforce a strict ban on cryptocurrencies,” the lawmaker, who has previously praised blockchain technology, tweeted on Friday. “Speculative poison and without economic or social added value. If a government bans drugs, it should also ban cryptocurrencies,” he argued.
Another lesson to be learned from the current banking shock. Enforce a strict ban on cryptocurrencies. Speculative poison and without economic or social added value. If a government bans drugs, it should also ban cryptocurrencies.
— Johan Van Overtveldt (@jvanovertveldt) March 17, 2023
Van Overtveldt is a Belgian journalist and politician from the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party, who served as his country’s finance minister from 2014 to 2018 in the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel.
He was elected to the European Parliament in 2019, where he has chaired the Committee on Budgets and represents the group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON).
ECR is a soft, anti-federalist eurosceptic political group in the EU legislature. Free enterprise, minimal regulation, the lowest taxes, along with “small government as the ultimate catalyst for individual liberty and personal and national prosperity” are among its founding principles.
Overtveldt’s statement on cryptocurrencies follows the collapse of three US banks, two of which were involved in the crypto space, Silvergate Bank and Silicon Valley Bank. The consequences of these bankruptcies reached Europe, affecting Credit Suisse, a major investment bank on the Old Continent.
Europe has yet to comprehensively regulate its crypto economy through the application of a legislative package called Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA). The EU institutions and member states agreed to the proposal last summer. Introduces rules for crypto service providers in the 27-member block.
Do you think Johan Van Overtveldt has a reason to call for a cryptocurrency ban? Tell us in the comment section below.
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