French Parliament Member, Sarah Knafo, urges the EU to ‘bet on Bitcoin’ by building national strategic Bitcoin reserves while rejecting the central bank’s plan for a digital euro.
In a video shared on her X account on Dec. 17, Knafo delivered a speech in parliament, calling for European nations to start building national Bitcoin (BTC) reserves, develop the crypto mining industry and stop hiking up taxes on crypto holders.
“It’s time to bet on freedom, it is time for our states to bet on Bitcoin. To build national strategic reserves. It is time to develop the mining industry,” said Knafo.
She took the opportunity to oppose the European Central Bank’s plan to create a digital euro, a mechanism that she believes would only give the bank more power over people’s finances due to how centralized the digital euro was.
“We do not want this dystopian world where a European bureaucrat will be able to prohibit certain transactions and even eliminate us from the banking system with a click for a simple comment made on social media or for stating an opinion that disagrees with them.”
Sarah Knafo, Member of the European Parliament
In the beginning of her speech, she cited El Salvador’s decision to invest in cryptocurrency back in 2021 and Donald Trump’s commitment to establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the U.S. as key examples for how the world has shifted towards decentralized finance.
“The whole world is now preparing to take advantage of this decentralized finance revolution. Donald Trump to build strategic Bitcoin reserve for the U.S. Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve is now talking about digital gold. Bitcoin is exploding,” said Knafo, referring to Bitcoin’s major milestone of surpassing the $100,000 threshold for the first time in history and the U.S Fed Chairman’s comments that compare Bitcoin to gold.
Read more: ECB official calls for urgency on digital euro amid global CBDC race
She criticized the EU over their poor decision of still hanging onto the traditional finance systems that are much more prone to economic crises such as inflation and deficits. Knafo claimed that the EU “is squandering our money on unbelievable mismanagement” because it refuses to turn to crypto as a more reliable alternative to store its national funds.
“It is time for a paradigm shift. It is time to protect our people from inflation and the poor economic choices of our states,” she stated.
In the past few months, several nations have been leaning towards plans of building a Bitcoin reserve. On Dec. 16, Donald Trump reaffirmed his plans to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve as part of his plan to make America the “crypto capital.” In addition, states across the country are in the process of passing Bitcoin reserve bills, including Texas, Alabama and Pennsylvania.
Prior to that, lawmakers in both Japan and Russia have urged their governments to consider establishing a national Bitcoin reserve to protect the national funds of their respective nations.
On Nov. 26, Brazilian legislators in the Chamber of Deputies proposed a Bitcoin bill that would limit Brazil’s reserves to approximately $18.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.
Read more: CZ highlights how governments are leaning towards BTC strategic reserves
