- Mark Carney, Canada’s new prime minister, has critically commented on Bitcoin and cited its volatility and inefficiency, but supports the development of CBDCs.
- Carney takes up his office in the middle of extreme tensions with the United States. He is against Trump’s commercial customs policy and has no interest in making Canada the 51st state of the United States.
Mark Carney was elected to the new Prime Minister of Canada on March 9 in a landslide election. He replaces Justin Trudeau, who has held office for more than seven years.
How will Kanada’s new prime minister deal with the crypto industry?
Carney, an experienced economist and former central banker, played important roles in the international financial scene. From 2008 to 2013 he was governor of the Bank of Canada and steered the country’s economy during the global financial crisis. He was then a governor of the Bank of England for seven years before giving up this office to return to his homeland. On March 1st, he officially confirmed to local media that he initiated the process for the abandonment of his British and Irish dual citizenship.
In the course of his professional life, Carney has repeatedly spoken out against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because they were volatile and economically inefficient – CNF reported. In a 2018 speech about the future of money, he denounced Bitcoin’s fixed offer and warned:
“The restoration of a virtual global gold standard would be a criminal act of monetary amnesia.”
Carney also referred to Bitcoin’s wild price fluctuations and said that his volatility made him an unsuitable value preservation. He said:
“If you had recorded a student loan of £ 1,000 in Bitcoin last December to pay your living costs for the next year in pound of sterling, you would now be missing about £ 500. If you had done the same thing last September, you would now be 2,000 pounds in plus. That is quite a lottery. “
Although he is skeptical about decentralized currencies, Carney has promoted the work on digital central bank currencies (CBDCs), which in his opinion will improve access to financial services and regulatory supervision. He believes that CBDCs have the potential to support governments in combating terrorist financing and other forms of economic crime.
Despite his criticism of Bitcoin, Carney was a member of the board of the payment processing company Stripe between 2021 and 2025. During this time, the company introduced a number of payment options in cryptocurrencies between 2022 and 2024.
Economic challenges and trade policy
Carney takes over the office in a time of economic tensions between the United States and Canada, especially because of the newly introduced US tariffs, as mentioned in our previous article. In his acceptance speech, he criticized the trade policy of US President Donald Trump as an attack on the Canadian workers and industry:
“Donald Trump has raised unjustified tariffs on what we build, sell and how we earn a living.”
He confirmed that Canada had already answered countermeasures and made it clear that these retaliation would continue if the United States was not ready for negotiations:
“The Canadian government has rightly taken retribution measures. These tariffs will be maintained until the Americans pay respect for us. ”
Carney also rejected Trump’s most recent proposal to integrate Canada to the United States. “”Canada will never be part of the United States in any form, ”he said. At the beginning of his term, Carney will determine the course for the coming years with his commercial, financial and economic security policy.
