Technology: The president of the European Central Bank called for global regulation of Bitcoin on Wednesday, saying that the digital currency had been used in some cases for money laundering activities.

beginning of the week, the price of Bitcoin fell by 20% after setting a record high since the end of 2020, reaching $40,000 on January 8. This Friday, the Bitcoin price stood at nearly 39,000 dollars in the morning, rebounding sharply since January 12

The recent boom started at the end of October with the launch of a service for buying, selling and paying in cryptocurrency by the online payments giant Paypal.

However, the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, called for global regulation of Bitcoin on Wednesday, saying that the digital currency had been used in some cases for money laundering activities and that any loopholes should be closed. Blockchain piracy brought in around three billion dollars last year.

Borrowing to invest in cryptocurrencies?

This is a strong statement as bitcoin has emerged from its niche in recent years and is now purchased by more and more individuals and businesses. Reuters notes that some people are no longer hesitant to borrow to invest in cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin “is a highly speculative asset, which has allowed for “funny business” and completely reprehensible money laundering activities,” Lagarde said, without giving details. “There has to be regulation. It must be applied and agreed on this point... at the global level because if there is a loophole, this loophole will be used,” she adds.

Last September, the French authorities arrested 29 people suspected of having participated in a funding network linked to terrorist groups based in Syria. The money flowed through cryptocurrency coupons that were sold freely and anonymously in tobacco shops.

Christine Lagarde also believes that the digital euro should become a reality within 5 years. The most requested feature for a digital euro is the confidentiality of payments, according to a public survey by the ECB. The institute also intends to respond to the launch of private global payment methods such as Libra, the cryptocurrency project launched by Facebook, and those adopted by other central banks such as the Chinese cryptoyuan

One of the difficulties caused by the disintermediation of financial exchanges

The recent surge in the price of Bitcoin this week highlighted one of the difficulties caused by the disintermediation of financial exchanges. Stefan Thomas, a German developer based in San Francisco, can't find the password to his Bitcoin digital wallet, which now represents 220 million dollars, according to the New York Times. The programmer wrote it down on a piece of paper in 2011... before losing it. At the beginning of the week, he only had two attempts left out of the ten authorized, and beyond that, his wallet will become inaccessible forever.

Wallet Recovery Services, which helps users recover lost digital keys, is seeing an increase in requests. She assures that she receives 70 per day, three times more than a month before.

According to the cybersecurity and cryptocurrency platform Chainalysis, around 20% of the 18.5 million existing Bitcoin are lost or blocked, or $140 billion, at the current Bitcoin price.