Speaking at the recent Caixin conference which held in Beijing, Trichet revealed his doubt about cryptocurrencies generally, but specifically said that real currency has a lot more than Bitcoin does:
“I am strongly against Bitcoin, and I think we are a little complacent…The currency itself is not real, with the characteristics that a currency must have.”
Unsurprisingly, the former president also doesn’t think Facebook’s forthcoming Libra cryptocurrency is a great idea. Even though the Libra is supposed to backed by a basket of currencies, Trichet believes that the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) is a better alternative for an asset-backed by a basket of currencies.
“I have great doubts about keeping control of monetary value in [the digital currency] domain…In the so-called new stable international currencies,… the SDR would be right basket.”
