Ulrich Bindseil (left) is Director General for Market Infrastructure and Payments at the ECB. Jürgen Schaaf advises the Head of Market Infrastructure and Payments at the ECB.
(Photo: ECB, Imago)
The bankruptcy of the crypto exchange FTX has triggered another crash in the Bitcoin price – to well below USD 16,000. In November 2021 it was still at $69,000, then fell steadily until last June, after which it seemed to stabilize at $20,000. That fueled hopes that it was a breather on the way to new heights.
It was already clear beforehand that it was more of a last gasp on the way to irrelevance. Bitcoin was created in 2008 to overthrow the existing monetary and financial system and has since been marketed as a global, decentralized digital currency.
But the conceptual design and technological shortcomings already made it questionable as a means of payment. In reality, bitcoin transactions are cumbersome, slow, and expensive. Bitcoin has never been used to any significant extent for legal real-world transactions.
The market valuation of Bitcoin is based purely on speculation
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