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<div class="finbold">
 <p class="paragraph">The European Central Bank (ECB) posted a new blog on February 22 criticizing Bitcoin (BTC). Notably, the last time it happened, on November 30, Bitcoin was trading at $17,000, three times less than the current $51,500.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">In this recent post, the authors compare the Bitcoin ETFs’ approval in the United States to “the <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="naked" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/naked.html">naked</a> <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="emperor’" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/emperor.html">emperor’</a>s new <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" title="clothes" href="https://thebittimes.com/tag/clothes.html">clothes</a>.” Citing that Bitcoin has failed as a global decentralized digital currency:</p>
 <blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
  <p class="paragraph">“Bitcoin has failed on the promise to be a global decentralised digital currency and is still hardly used for legitimate transfers. The latest approval of an ETF doesn’t change the fact that Bitcoin is not suitable as means of payment or as an investment.”</p> <cite>– Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf, writing for the ECB</cite>
 </blockquote>
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   <svg width="32" height="32" viewbox="0 0 32 32" fill="none" xmlns="//www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path d="M4 10.6665V25.3332C4 28.2678 6.392 29.3332 8 29.3332H28V26.6665H8.016C7.4 26.6505 6.66667 26.4078 6.66667 25.3332C6.66667 24.2585 7.4 24.0158 8.016 23.9998H28V5.33317C28 3.8625 26.804 2.6665 25.3333 2.6665H8C6.392 2.6665 4 3.73184 4 6.6665V10.6665ZM8 5.33317H25.3333V21.3332H6.66667V6.6665C6.66667 5.59184 7.4 5.34917 8 5.33317Z" fill="#EF4444"> 
    </path> <path d="M15.996 18.6668L20.4626 14.2815C20.738 14.0166 20.9571 13.6989 21.1068 13.3473C21.2564 12.9957 21.3336 12.6176 21.3336 12.2355C21.3336 11.8534 21.2564 11.4752 21.1068 11.1236C20.9571 10.7721 20.738 10.4543 20.4626 10.1895C19.9074 9.64148 19.1587 9.33422 18.3786 9.33422C17.5985 9.33422 16.8498 9.64148 16.2946 10.1895L15.996 10.4801L15.6973 10.1881C15.1423 9.64023 14.3938 9.33301 13.614 9.33301C12.8341 9.33301 12.0856 9.64023 11.5306 10.1881C11.2552 10.453 11.0361 10.7707 10.8865 11.1223C10.7368 11.4739 10.6597 11.852 10.6597 12.2341C10.6597 12.6162 10.7368 12.9944 10.8865 13.346C11.0361 13.6975 11.2552 14.0153 11.5306 14.2801L15.996 18.6668Z" fill="#EF4444"> 
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 <p class="paragraph">According to the European Central Bank, the fair value for BTC is zero. Thus, in the entity’s words, the described boom-bust cycle will lead to massive collateral damage and redistribution of wealth.</p>
 <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter">
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   <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
    <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bitcoin has failed to become a global decentralised digital currency, instead falling victim to fraud and manipulation. <br><br>The recent approval of an ETF doesn’t change the fact that Bitcoin is costly, slow and inconvenient, argues #TheECBBloghttps://t.co/e9Ek01Dism pic.twitter.com/ddBFsv4g0w</p>— European Central Bank (@ecb) February 22, 2024
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 </figure>
 <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ecb-doubles-down-on-its-previous-critics-of-bitcoin">ECB doubles down on its previous critics of Bitcoin</h2>
 <p class="paragraph">These aspects were previously addressed in ECB’s “Bitcoin’s Last Stand” post on November 30. Now, the European Central Bank argues some of the concerns mentioned then have been recently validated.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">First, they reiterate that “Bitcoin transactions are inconvenient, slow, and costly.” As reported by Finbold, a Bitcoin transaction fee reached the average global daily income on December 6.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">On the other hand, the ECB again mentions how Bitcoin’s use is highly concentrated on criminal activities. However, a Chainalysis report identified that only 0.34% of all cryptocurrencies’ transaction volume from 2018 to 2023 belonged to illicit activities.</p>
 <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" width="1024" height="524" src="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/22/b4bfcf255c0c665316adeeb014ae9c66.webp" alt class="wp-image-156579" srcset="https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/22/b4bfcf255c0c665316adeeb014ae9c66.webp 1024w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/22/b4bfcf255c0c665316adeeb014ae9c66.webp 300w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/22/b4bfcf255c0c665316adeeb014ae9c66.webp 768w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/22/b4bfcf255c0c665316adeeb014ae9c66.webp 1536w, https://cdn.thebittimes.com/images/2024/02/22/b4bfcf255c0c665316adeeb014ae9c66.webp 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px">
  <figcaption class="wp-element-caption">
   Illicit share of all cryptocurrency transaction volume, 2018 – 2023. Source: Chainalysis
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 </figure>
 <p class="paragraph">Additionally, the central bank slammed Bitcoin as “not suitable as an investment” and warned on the issues related to mining and proof of work.</p>
 <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="manipulation-and-speculative-bubble">Manipulation and speculative bubble</h2>
 <p class="paragraph">Moreover, the European Central Bank raises a serious accusation of historical price manipulation “and other types of frauds.”</p>
 <p class="paragraph">The post mentions scams and fraud perpetrated by centralized entities. Also, allegations of fake centralized exchange volume suggest these issues appear when centralized influence over the cryptocurrency market exists.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">A report by <em>Forbes</em> previously explained that more than half of Bitcoin trades were fake in 2022.</p>
 <blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
  <p class="paragraph">“More than half of all reported trading volume is likely to be fake or non-economic. Forbes estimates the global daily bitcoin volume for the industry was $128 billion on June 14. That is 51% less than the $262 billion one would get by taking the sum of self-reported volume from multiple sources.”</p> <cite>– Forbes</cite>
 </blockquote>
 <p class="paragraph">In conclusion, the ECB warns that “price level is not an indicator of its sustainability,” calling BTC a speculative bubble. The European Central Bank urges Bitcoin investors to be cautious and centralized regulatory interference.</p>
 <p class="paragraph">Interestingly, the latter have not prevented criminal activities, fraud, manipulation, or speculative bubbles in other highly regulated financial markets or fiat currencies over the history of humanity. Instead, facilitated them through lobby, cartelization, and the maintenance of monopolies.</p>
</div>
<p>Source: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://thebittimes.com/ecb-slams-bitcoin-etfs-as-the-naked-emperor-s-new-clothes-tbt80501.html">https://thebittimes.com/ecb-slams-bitcoin-etfs-as-the-naked-emperor-s-new-clothes-tbt80501.html</a></p>

ECB slams Bitcoin ETFs as ‘the naked emperor’s new clothes’

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