Digital euro used for ‘control’: pranksters impersonate ECB chief in Zelensky’s voice

A video circulating online shows the ECB President Christine Lagarde allegedly in dialogue with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, acknowledging that authorities intend to control transactions through the digital euro.

JUST IN: ?? European Central Bank President reveals plans to launch a digital euro (CBDC), says there will be control over payments. pic.twitter.com/szCFxBkZDR

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) April 6, 2023

As Cointelegraph noted, the original video опубликован by Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus on March 17. The authors of the Zelensky impersonation asked Lagarde about protests over the introduction CBDC in Europe and the public’s unwillingness to be under state control.

In response, the ECB chief noted that the digital euro would indeed be “limitedly controllable” by authorities for monitoring payments.

“We are considering the possibility of a zero-control mechanism for very small amounts, around €300-€400. But that could be dangerous,” Lagarde added.

According to her, small anonymous transactions often become sources of financing for terrorist attacks.

The ECB chief also explained the importance of introducing the digital euro as a way to avoid dependence on “currencies of unfriendly countries” or “currencies of private corporations such as Facebook, Google or Amazon”.

The crypto community sharply criticized Lagarde’s statement, especially regarding payment controls. Twitter users urged not to use “this nonsense” and to favour exclusively decentralized cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

I’d personally like to thank Christina LeGarde for choosing to advance bitcoin by making it so painfully obvious to the masses where all this is going.

— ₿itcoin Kramer ⚡️⚡️⚡️ (@KramericaBTC_) April 7, 2023

“I would personally like to thank Christine Lagarde for choosing to advance Bitcoin by clearly showing where all this is heading,” one of them wrote.

In July 2021 started the research phase for the digital euro, which will run until September 2023. It was envisaged that by then the regulator would decide on the advisability of issuing CBDC.

In May 2022, ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta allowed for CBDC issuance by 2026 with an issuance cap of 1.5 trillion. выпуск CBDC до 2026 года with an issuance cap of 1.5 trillion.