BIS chief claims fiat won battle with crypto, Bitcoin community disagrees
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has long taken a cautious approach to Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies. No need for caution anymore, as “the battle is won” between fiat and crypto, according to the BIS.
BIS chief executive Agustín Carstens, who made the claim, highlighted that “technology doesn’t make money you trust,” amid further criticism of crypto in an interview with Bloomberg.
As the central bank for central banks, the BIS has emphasized the need for regulation and risk management in the crypto space – but claiming that the fiat battle has been won sparked outrage, satire and corrections among the Bitcoin and crypto community.
Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful and vocal Bitcoin maximalist told Cointelegraph that it’s “easy to get sucked into these battles, but it’s a distraction with no return.” He continued, “We must focus on the battles in the Global South and fight for every inch and every eyeball. What is happening in Nigeria now is important to all of us.”
“Do you want to piss off the clowns? Ignore their FUD bait and focus all in on the global south and what’s happening in the streets of Nigeria.”
Bitcoin author Saifedean Ammous brought BIS history to the attention of his followers, provoking condemnation and concern in the comments. Florida-based Bitcoin lawyer named SVN (not his real name), whose frozen bank account led to a move to go all-in on Bitcoin, told Cointelegraph that “These people are clowns.”
Meanwhile, Lady Anarki, a Bitcoin-based lawyer who recently shut down a Bitcoin Security Education company, explained that “fiat and crypto are essentially the same exact scam.”
“For fiat, there are evil elite oligarchs creating a rigged gaming system to enrich themselves while impoverishing everyone else. Bitcoin is a technology designed with incentives and sound economic principles that enriches anyone who brings value to the world.”
Bitcoin losing the “war” for money, as Carstens explained, is another reference to the fact that Bitcoin has been declared dead, dead and dead again. The bear market of 2022 and 2023 is no different, and Bitcoin advocates Twitter seized the opportunity to mock financial experts dancing on the imaginary grave of the decentralized currency.
Nevertheless, Bitcoin is up above 40% from 2022 lows, and Lightning Network adoption is booming as the community emerges increasingly vocal.
What Bitcoin Did, the popular podcast hosted by football club owner Peter McCormack – number 38 on Cointelegraph’s top 100 – tweeted some useful statistics to correct another inflammatory statement published by the BIS this week. Specifically, from August 2015 to December 2022, the BIS explained that “almost all economies lost their Bitcoin holdings.”
As shown, the Bitcoin price continues to trend higher despite the BIS’s best efforts to the contrary.
The BIS has been a vocal critic of cryptocurrencies recently, citing concerns about their volatility, scalability and energy consumption. However, the BIS has also investigated stablecoins and central banks’ digital currencies, alongside Carsten’s comment in the Bloomberg interview that technology “doesn’t provide reliable money.”
Related: Coinbase Venture ‘Fundamentally Different’ Than Kraken’s — Chief Counsel
Willem Middelkoop, author and Bitcoin advocate, highlighted that the war between fiat and crypto is far from over. A cursory scroll on the original Bloomberg Crypto tweet suggests the war is fair heating up.
