Christine Lagarde is above all a political figure of French nationality known for having been a minister several times, then managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and finally president of the European Central Bank (ECB). She held these last two positions when cryptocurrencies began to make serious headlines. They have since become indispensable. In this article, we will tell you more about Christine Lagarde, and try to find out whether or not she wants to help the development of the blockchain industry.
Career path and education
After obtaining her baccalaureate in 1974, she obtained a scholarship which allowed her to go to the United States for a year. She obtained a diploma there and then obtained an internship at the Capitole. Back in France, she graduated from the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence. She failed the entrance examination to the ENA, but will obtain two masters (in law and in English).
She began her career as a lawyer at the Paris Bar where she decided to join the employment law department at the international business firm Baker McKenzie. In twenty years, she managed to climb all the levels to finally become president from 1999 to 2005.
From 2005 to 2007, she was appointed Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade by Jacques Chirac. Nicolas Sarkozy appointed her as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries for a month before appointing her Minister of the Economy, where she had to face the financial crisis of 2008, the one that gave birth to bitcoin.
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
In 2011, following the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal, she was offered the post of Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She then left her post in the French government for this prestigious function.
It was during this term that many aid programs were proposed to help countries emerge from the 2008 crisis, including Greece. In return for the reforms, it decided to grant loans to countries which had difficulties in paying their debts in order to prevent them from going bankrupt.
It was also during this period that bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies as a whole, began to be talked about around the world. The IMF, like other international financial bodies, have been against the adoption of cryptocurrencies, claiming that they serve no purpose and are a danger to the global economy.
President of the European Central Bank (ECB)
During her second term at the IMF, she decided to leave office to become President of the European Central Bank (ECB). After having helped many countries in difficulty throughout the world, she deemed it more useful to help her home continent by putting her skills at the service of the European population.
Having noticed that cryptocurrencies were slowly starting to become a new asset class, she quickly realized that it would be practically impossible to be able to stop their rise. She then decided that it was necessary to deal with and to propose to use the blockchain within the ECB itself.
The idea of issuing a digital currency from the European Central Bank (CBDC) then caught on. However, due to the Covid-19 crisis, things have been delayed. As of this writing, the drive to release an ECB-backed euro stablecoin is still on the table, but its development seems to have slowed.
Conclusion
Christine Lagarde has an exemplary educational and professional background. Each time she has undertaken something, she has succeeded brilliantly. Whether in her law firm or in her duties as a minister, she has always been highly appreciated by her colleagues.
Now at the head of the European Central Bank, she is analyzing the possibility of issuing a stablecoin based on the euro, which would be a first for an institution of this size. Even if Christine Lagarde is not necessarily a pure and hard fan of cryptos, she understood that it was necessary to deal with this new technology and that the blockchain could present certain interesting advantages for the ECB.
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