Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Timothy Antoine has warned against investing in cryptocurrency highlighting its instability.
A cryptocurrency is an encrypted data string that denotes a unit of currency. It is monitored and organized by a peer-to-peer network called a blockchain, which also serves as a secure ledger of transactions, such as buying, selling, and transferring.
Unlike physical money, cryptocurrencies are decentralized, which means they are not issued by governments or other financial institutions.
“With the Cryptos, they’re not backed by anything; it’s speculation; buying and selling, buying and selling. The prices up today, the prices down tomorrow,” Antoine stated.
The ECCB Governor also highlighted the use of cryptocurrency to finance terrorism and money laundering.
“Because they don’t have an underlined asset, because they’re not regulated, there will be a crackdown,” he continued.
“The reason why there will be a crackdown is that many of these cryptocurrencies are being used for money laundering and in some cases terrorism financing,” Antoine stated.
“Don’t ever borrow money to invest in crypto because you are not sure if you are going to recover that investment and you will have to pay back that debt,” Antoine warned.
Antoine was a guest on DBS Television’s Newsmaker Live