Christine Lagarde Is Leaving the ECB: Here’s What She Really Thought About Bitcoin

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde announced this week that she will step down on February 7, 2027, about eight months before her term ends; the former IMF chief has led the ECB since November 2019. During that tenure she became a prominent critic of Bitcoin and crypto, calling Bitcoin highly speculative in January 2021 and saying in 2022 that crypto assets had no value and lacked an underlying asset or structure providing safety. In January 2025, after Czech National Bank Governor Ales Michl floated studying Bitcoin for reserves, Lagarde said reserve assets must be liquid, secure and safe and said she was confident Bitcoin would not enter the reserves of central banks represented on the ECB’s General Council.