German ex-minister urges ECB to use crypto as reserves

Christian Lindner has pointed to example of US President-elect Donald Trump’s “extremely progressive” approach to the issue

The European Central Bank (ECB) should catch up with the “extremely progressive” incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and embrace crypto assets as part of its reserves, Germany’s former finance minister Christian Lindner told the dpa news agency over the weekend.

The politician praised cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin for playing a “significant” role in the increase of global prosperity, maintaining that accumulating such reserves was too good an opportunity to pass up. He also pointed to Trump’s pro-crypto stance as something both Brussels and Berlin should look up to.

“The new Trump administration is pursuing an extremely progressive policy when it comes to crypto assets such as Bitcoin,” he said, claiming that the Federal Reserve is supposedly considering “adding crypto assets to its reserves alongside currencies and gold.” Lindner did not provide any sources for this information.

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Two weeks ago, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told a press conference that his agency was “not allowed to own Bitcoin.” He also stated that it was up to the US Congress to consider whether such a move should be made. “We are not looking for a law change at the Fed,” Powell added.

Trump has previously claimed he would make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.” Once a crypto skeptic himself, the president-elect has changed his stance and has recently insisted that all Bitcoin should be mined in the US. He also used bitcoin to buy cheeseburgers and beer for his supporters at a New York City bar.

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His victory in the 2024 US presidential elections sent the Bitcoin’s price up, and the cryptocurrency surpassed the long-awaited $100,000 threshold as part of a rally fueled by investor expectations of crypto-friendly policies from the incoming Trump administration.

Lindner insisted that “Germany and Europe must not allow themselves to fall behind again” when it comes to cryptocurrencies, urging both the ECB and the German Central Bank (Bundesbank) to “examine whether crypto assets should also become part of the central banks' reserves.”

When asked by dpa whether investing in crypto would be a risky move, the former finance minister replied that no one should “invest everything in them.” He still maintained that crypto assets supported by a “decentralized system” could help mitigate political risks associated with traditional currencies.

Neither the ECB nor the Bundesbank have responded to Lindner’s proposals so far.