Former German finance minister Christian Lindner has advocated for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin to be included in the reserves of the European Central Bank and the Bundesbank to bolster financial resilience and keep pace with global trends.
According to German media outlet Handelsblatt, Lindner pointed to the United States, where the new administration under Donald Trump is seeking a progressive approach to crypto assets, including discussions about including Bitcoin in the Federal Reserve’s reserves alongside traditional assets such as gold.
Lindner emphasized that cryptocurrencies now account for a significant share of global wealth growth and warned that Germany and Europe risk falling behind if they do not take similar steps.
He believes that adding Bitcoin to the country’s reserves could help strengthen the financial stability of the central bank’s holdings – an idea that has recently been floated by many political figures around the world.
Lindner, leader of the Free Democratic Party, made the comments ahead of Germany’s federal election in February. The FDP has long been committed to the introduction of cryptocurrencies and emphasized the importance of digital assets in its most recent election manifesto.
On the contrary, Germany’s approach to cryptocurrencies has been particularly cautious and has been criticized by industry representatives for its reluctance to fully embrace digital assets.
Earlier this year, the German government sold around 50,000 BTC seized from the pirated movie site Movie2k.to, after which authorities transferred and sold the funds over a period of nearly four weeks, from mid-June to early July.
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