*Personally, I’m not sure why people invest in those sorts of assets, but they see them as assets clearly. Our role is to make sure that consumers are protected, says European Central Bank’s chief

Alexnder Davis | ConsumerConnect

Worried more about consumers making the right choices in their investment decisions, the European Central Bank (ECB) has cautioned Bitcoin investors to be prepared to “lose all their money.”

Gabriel Makhlouf, a central banker on the cryptocurrency and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank said this in the institution’s latest warning Friday, January 29.

Makhlouf, who is also Governor of Central Bank of Ireland, told Bloomberg TV that “personally, I’m not sure why people invest in those sorts of assets, but they see them as assets clearly.

“Our role is to make sure that consumers are protected.”

Report said Makhlouf’s comments echo skepticism from ECB leaders.

ECB President Christine Lagarde December 2020 had stated that the cryptocurrency is a “highly speculative asset”.

Bitcoin prices have more than doubled since November and topped $40,000 earlier this month.

Large movements in its value are common, with four daily swings of more than 5% in the past nine days, according to report.

On Friday, Bitcoin rallied above $35,000, with brokers attributing the move to Elon Musk mentioning the cryptocurrency in his bio page on Twitter.

Still, Makhlouf doesn’t see “financial stability issues at the moment arising from Bitcoin itself.”

He declared: “I worry more about consumers making the right choices.”