The mischievous pranksters decided to play a prank on Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), by conducting an interview with her on behalf of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During the interview, Lagarde made a controversial statement suggesting that the digital euro could potentially be used for surveillance purposes by governments.
Lagarde cited Europe’s desire to reduce dependency on currencies of unfriendly nations as a reason for this surveillance.
However, Zelensky argued that European users hoped for privacy when it comes to the digital euro, as evidenced by the results of public consultations conducted by the ECB in 2021, with almost half of the respondents indicating a preference for a private digital euro.
While Lagarde acknowledged that control over transactions could not be avoided, she suggested a zero-control mechanism for small amounts, roughly around 300-400 euros, could be introduced.
However, she also warned that such a mechanism could be exploited by terrorist organizations for anonymous transactions.
Lagarde’s comments drew heavy criticism from the crypto community, with many Twitter users arguing that this interview would encourage people to use decentralized digital assets like bitcoin.
Despite this criticism, Lagarde has previously stated that the digital euro would help Europe achieve independence in the payments sector.
The ECB has also confirmed that the final decision regarding the launch of the digital euro would be made in the fall of 2023.