EU Parliament Budget Committee Chair Calls for Crypto Ban Amid Banking Turmoil – Regulation
A European lawmaker has asked the authorities to introduce a ban on cryptocurrencies to impose, citing the current crisis in the banking sector as the reason. Johan Van Overtveldt, former Belgian finance minister, believes these assets have no economic or social value.
Belgium’s ex-finance minister proposes ban on decentralized digital currencies
Member of the European Parliament Johan Van Overtveldt has insisted that governments ban cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin should ban. His call comes amid a crisis sparked by the collapse of several banking institutions, including two crypto-friendly banks in the US
“Another lesson to learn from the current banking frenzy. Enforce a strict ban on cryptocurrencies,” tweeted the lawmaker, who previously issued the Blockchaintechnology had praised on Friday. “Speculation poison and no economic or social added value. If a government bans drugs, it should also ban cryptos,” he argued.
Nog een les te trekken uit de huidige bankcommotie. Put a strictly verbod op cryptocurrencies op. When Overheid banned drugs, we also wanted to ban crypto’s.
— Johan Van Overtveldt (@jvanovertveldt) March 17, 2023
Van Overtveldt is a Belgian journalist and politician from the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) party, who was his country’s finance minister in Prime Minister Charles Michel’s government from 2014 to 2018.
He was elected to the European Parliament in 2019, where he chairs the Budgets Committee and represents the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON).
ECR is a soft Eurosceptic, anti-federalist faction in the EU legislature. Free enterprise, minimal regulation, lower taxation, and “small governments as the ultimate catalysts 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 active in the crypto space, Silvergate Bank and Silicon Valley Bank. The consequences of these failures reached Europe and hit Credit Suisse, a large investment bank in the old continent.
Europe has yet to fully regulate its crypto economy by enforcing a legislative package called Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA). EU institutions and member states agreed on the proposal last summer. It rolls out rules for crypto service providers across the 27-strong block.
Do you think Johan Van Overtveldt has a reason to call for a crypto ban? Tell us in the comment section below.
photo credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock.com
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Source: Crypto News Deutsch
