Christine Lagarde’s son loses 60% of his crypto investment

Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) recently admitted that one of her sons invested in cryptocurrencies, against her advice. However, his bet did not pay off, and he lost around 60% of the money he used.

Lagarde’s son made the wrong call

Lagarde is a known crypto skeptic, and she advised her son against making such a move. In the past, she has criticized the digital asset industry on more than one occasion, stating that cryptocurrencies are speculative, worthless, and a tool used by criminals for illicit activity.

While many have described this as a narrow view of the crypto industry, Lagarde was right to advise caution, given how volatile and risky the crypto market is. Of course, this is nothing new for crypto, and its volatility is pretty much the first thing that anyone who learns of crypto discovers. It is this volatility that offers the potential for making profits for those who know how to handle it, and when to make a move.

Commenting on her son’s investment, Lagarde said: “He ignored me royally, which is his privilege. And he lost almost all the money that he had invested.” She shared the news of her son’s unfortunate crypto experience in a town hall with students in Frankfurt, using the event to make a point about the risk that comes with dealing with cryptocurrencies.

She stressed that the investment he had made was not particularly big. “It wasn’t a lot but he lost it all, he lost about 60% of it.”

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that her son lost "almost all" of his investments in crypto, despite her copious warnings

"It wasn't a lot but he lost it all, he lost about 60% of it," Lagarde added. "So when I then had another talk with him about it, he…

— db (@neuralinkdb) November 24, 2023

The ECB chief has two sons, both of whom are in their mid-30s. However, she did not specify which one of them tried to deal with cryptocurrencies.

ECB’s digital euro in preparation phase, but years away from launch

Lagarde’s stance toward crypto has been reflected in the stance of the entire ECB, which has called for global regulation of the digital asset industry. European Central Bank believes that it is imperative to protect consumers who are not aware of the risks associated with the crypto industry. But, perhaps even more importantly, it is important to regulate crypto in order to prevent its use for financing terrorism and allowing for money laundering.

“People are free to invest their money where they want, people are free to speculate as much as they want, (but) people should not be free to participate in criminally sanctioned trade and businesses,” Lagarde said.

ECB even launched its own digital euro project after concerns about privately issued cryptos displacing government money emerged. ECB’s digital euro was meant to be a safe, government-controlled crypto alternative, although the bank is apparently still years away from actually launching it.

Last month, reports said that the ECB is in the preparation phase for the digital EUR, although they also said that it will be at least two more years before the bank reaches the point where it must decide whether to roll out its coin or not.