Pierre Moscovici – European Union Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs – says he does not consider bitcoin as an alternative currency, as he explains the EU’s view of the cryptocurrency.
Although many financial analysts have been prophesying an EU crackdown on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, European Union commissioner, Pierre Moscovici says the political body has no plans to regulate them at the moment.
“At this stage, we do not consider bitcoin as an alternative currency, not like the euro — we see that there is quite a lot of speculation about that,” Moscovici told Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua in an interview broadcast as part of the “Bloomberg Surveillance” segment.
Moscovici, who previously served as the Minister of Finance for France between 2012-2014, has dismissed suggestions of the EU looking at regulating bitcoin markets and exchanges.
Sometimes speculation is overactive or exuberant. We looked at bitcoin and analyzed the phenomenon, but we don’t think we have to react to bitcoin at this stage as a political and technical body.
“We are not having those conversations right now,” Moscovici said, when asked if the EU was in talks with European regulators about introducing regulatory frameworks for bitcoin.
The high ranking European Union official referenced recent remarks from former US Fed Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan who said “bitcoin is a really fascinating example of how human beings create value”.
The European Union bitcoin regulation plans seem hazy, to say the least. Moscovici has a divergent approach to that of Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of financial stability, financial services and capital markets at the European Commission.
“In recent weeks, bitcoin has our heightened attention. There are clear risks for investors and consumers associated with price volatility, including the risk of complete loss of investment, operational and security failures, market manipulation and liability gaps,” Dombrovskis said, speaking to reporters on a public news conference on December 20.
EU’s political body recently added “digital currencies” to its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financial legislation.
European Union bitcoin regulation views – Image source: symbiot / shutterstock.com