Lagarde considered that crypto assets are a threat and have been a threat in the past because dubious and criminal transactions have been made with them.
Now they are being used to avoid sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to the ECB president.
Lagarde also said that they observe that Ukrainian refugees arrive in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and other countries loaded with bags full of hryvnia bills, which they cannot quickly change to euros or other European currencies because the Ukrainian currency is no longer quoted. in the foreign exchange market and there is no reference exchange rate.
This is, according to Lagarde, a sign of the confidence that the general population still has in cash.
Almost 3.5 million Ukrainian citizens, mostly women, children and the elderly, have left their country as a result of the Russian invasion, according to figures from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Many cross borders with their savings, but they cannot pay for their basic needs because they cannot change them into euros or into other European currencies because the exchange rate they have been offered is excessively high or because commissions are imposed on them impressive.
That is why the European Union and the ECB are trying to find a way for them to exchange cash by establishing an exchange mechanism that banks and exchange houses accept.
The newspaper “Financial Times” reported on Tuesday that the European Commission is discussing with the ECB the creation of a facility that allows Ukrainians to change part of their savings in hryvnias to euros, for which guarantees from EU countries are necessary. to cover possible losses in the value of the Ukrainian currency.
Lagarde welcomed US President Joe Biden’s proposal to study the possibility of launching a digital dollar.
Biden recently ordered his government to evaluate the creation of a US digital currency, backed by the Federal Reserve.
