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IPFS News Link • Central Banks/Banking

ECB's Lagarde Urges Immediate Crypto Regulation To Stop Putin Evading Sanctions

• https://www.zerohedge.com, by Tyler Durden

In response to a question on Russia potentially using crypto to evade some of these measures, the ECB president urged action on an existing proposal for a regulatory framework on digital assets.

"Whenever there is a ban or prohibition or a mechanism in place to boycott or prohibit, there are, always criminal ways that will try to circumvent the prohibition or the ban" said Lagarde.

"It's so critically important that MiCA is pushed through as quickly as possible so we have a regulatory framework within which crypto assets can actually be caught."

Notably, the European Parliament has delayed a vote on the Markets in Crypto Assets Directive (MiCA) due to fears that it would be "misinterpreted as a de facto Bitcoin ban" over questions surrounding the industry's energy demands. 

As Daniel Roberts and Jeff John Roberts detailed for Decrypt earlier, the largest European military conflict since World War II is raging in Ukraine, and Bitcoin could shape the outcome.

In the words of the Washington Post, the battle between Russia and Ukraine is "the world's first crypto war" as both sides discover the advantages of a borderless, permissionless currency.

People around the world have already donated millions to NGOs trying to defend Ukraine from Russia's savage invasion. Meanwhile, some in Ukraine are turning to Bitcoin as the panic of war is depleting the country's ATMs. In one case, Danish journalists reportedly used Satoshi's currency to buy a car and flee the country. Twenty years ago, gold might have been used to barter in a conflict zone—today it's Bitcoin.


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