“Cryptos are not currencies, full stop,” Lagarde stressed. “Cryptos are highly speculative assets that claim their fame as currency, possibly, but they’re not. They are not.” Although not a currency, she did say that they were “highly speculative, suspicious occasionally, and high intensity in terms of energy consumption.
Despite her disdain for cryptocurrencies, Lagarde is more open to stablecoins, as they could facilitate central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). However, as they continue to spread, she believes they and the companies issuing them need more regulation.
“You have those stablecoins that are beginning to proliferate, which some big techs are trying to promote and push along the way, which are a different animal and need to be regulated, where there has to be oversight that corresponds to the business that they’re actually conducting, irrespective of how they name themselves,” Lagarde said.
