French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Sarah Knafo delivered a high-profile handle, urging the European Union (EU) to undertake a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” as a part of a broader effort to advertise monetary autonomy and fight inflationary pressures.
A French Justice of the Peace and member of the Cour des Comptes, Knafo’s background contains public service and political advising, most notably for right-wing Jewish presidential candidate Éric Zemmour. Knafo’s public position has steadily risen since her election to the European Parliament in 2024.
Why The EU Wants A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
In her speech on the Parliament ground, Knafo drew upon world examples—citing El Salvador’s early adoption of Bitcoin and political figures comparable to former US President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell—to underscore a rising wave of institutional acceptance. She asserted that the EU’s present monetary methods put member states at an obstacle inside what she characterised as a quickly evolving financial panorama.
“Already 3 years in the past, on the opposite facet of the Atlantic, the president of El Salvador determined to speculate for his nation in crypto-currencies,” mentioned Knafo, referencing El Salvador’s 2021 authorized tender legislation. “On the time, he was reviled by the political class and the IMF. As we speak, he’s up 100%.”
Emphasizing a perceived missed alternative for EU nations, Knafo argued that El Salvador’s transfer has yielded vital capital good points—sources that, she mentioned, the nation has used to bolster each “the safety and sovereignty of his nation.” Turning to the USA, she acknowledged that “Donald Trump will set up a strategic Bitcoin reserve for the USA.”.
Knafo additionally invoked the general public stance of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, stating that “Jerome Powell […] is now speaking about it as ‘digital gold.’” She positioned these developments as indicators that different main economies are adapting to decentralized finance, whereas “the European Union […] continues to build up tragically inflationary deficits,” with present regulatory measures that she criticized as overly restrictive.
“We don’t need this dystopian world,” Knafo warned, referencing the European Central Financial institution’s work on a digital euro. “The place tomorrow a European bureaucrat will have the ability to prohibit us from sure transactions and even eradicate us from the banking system on the click on of a button for one thing we are saying on social networks.”
All through her handle, Knafo appealed for a wholesale shift in EU monetary coverage: “It’s time to say no to the totalitarian temptations of the European Central Financial institution, which needs to impose a digital euro fully in its personal palms […] It’s time to wager on freedom.”
She went on to advocate for a flourishing Bitcoin mining sector within the EU, suggesting that France’s nuclear vitality infrastructure might provide a aggressive edge. “We, the French, maintain the playing cards with our nuclear trump card,” she mentioned, framing home energy era as an untapped enabler of large-scale mining operations.
Knafo additionally addressed the necessity to regulate present taxation insurance policies, urging lawmakers to “cease taxing cryptocurrency holders” and stressing that crypto-asset holders took private dangers to generate their wealth. She characterised present authorities deficits as instantly fueling inflation and financial instability: “Authorities deficits that drive cash creation […] create inflation, that result in chaos […] Allow them to defend themselves from the insane spiral you’ve created.”
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $106,947.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com