Belgian foreign minister calls for crypto ban

An EU Member of Parliament has recently tweeted that he believes an EU-wide ban on crypto should be introduced.

In a chirping as of March 17, Johan Van Overtveldt, a former finance minister of Belgium and current member of the European Parliament, called for a total ban on cryptocurrencies amid the recent turmoil in the banking sector.

“Another lesson to be learned from the current banking turmoil. Enforce a strict ban on cryptocurrencies,” Van Overtveldt tweeted, adding that crypto provides “no economic or social value.”

“If a government bans drugs, it should also ban crypto,” he speculated, alluding to new fears stemming from the distress of Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank, which have since spread to European markets, sending shares of banks such as Credit Suisse to record lows.

The comments come after a special Basel Committee on Banking recommended that banks develop protocols to hold and maintain both Bitcoin and stablecoins by 2025.

Van Overtveldt, who serves as economic spokesperson for a group of 64 EU lawmakers, made the remarks as the European Parliament prepares to vote on significant crypto-licensing regulations for the bloc.

Johan Van Overtveldt’s anti-crypto stance

Since 2013 he has been a member of the New Flemish Alliance party and was elected to the European Parliament in 2014. He became Minister of Finance in the Michel government in 2014 and after the 2019 election returned to the European Parliament, where he currently chairs the Budget Committee and serves as Mayor of the multiannual financial framework.

Next month, EU Parliament lawmakers will meet to discuss crypto regulation. The regulation is expected to provide a structure for wallet providers and exchanges to adhere to governance and consumer protection standards.

According to Van Overtveldt, who is spearheading parliament’s efforts to pass a law allowing trading of securities on distributed ledger technology, the technology has “huge potential” to increase productivity, but warns that many of the speculative projects going into finance through crypto, tends to hurt consumers.

Basel Committee

The upcoming banking legislation in the EU includes a number of strict capital rules for banks that hold cryptocurrencies.

According to a February 20 Reuters report, the Basel Committee, made up of banking regulators from major financial hubs globally, has set a deadline of January 2025 to implement capital standards for banks holding cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and stablecoins:

“Currently, banks have very low exposures to cryptoassets and only limited involvement in providing cryptoasset-related services. Banks have expressed interest in trading cryptoassets on behalf of their clients and in offering cryptoasset-related services. From an international perspective, it will also allow the EU to fully align itself with the implementation deadline agreed at Basel level.”