Paolo Savona once again points the finger at cryptocurrencies. And this time he does it with even more drastic tones, indicating a threat that does not only concern the market, but the the very maintenance of the country's financial infrastructuree. From the stage of the Consumer Forum, hosted at the Cnel, the president of Consob warned that in the global race for financial technologies, whoever arrives first can exercise a destabilizing power never seen before.
At the heart of his speech was a concept he forcefully reiterated: the opaque nature of cryptocurrencies. "The strength of bitcoin is its secrecy." Savona declared, explaining that in that grey area "tax evaders, mafia money, money from the secret services go because that's how we can fight terrorism." An ideal terrain, he recalled, for "all illicit wealth" who take advantage of tools "that were the first to isolate themselves, preventing the exchange of information and preventing themselves from being penetrated".
Systemic risk: whoever controls the data controls finance
Savona explained that the competition is no longer just between currencies, but between information systems. “The battle is this: whoever gets there first gets hold of the others’ information” and, once he has gained an advantage, he uses it.
But the scenario becomes even more disturbing if we look at the potential effects on financial infrastructure"The real risk," Savona explains, "is that whoever gets there first can paralyze all our current accounts, can paralyze all the information on public debt. We are facing this type of revolution." A threat that the president of Consob defines as comparable to "“nuclear bomb” of the digital age.
An appeal to the institutions: immediate countermeasures are needed.
The warning is the same one that Savona has been launching for monthsThe President of Consob calls for Italian and European authorities to move quickly and in a coordinated manner.
The recipe? Building common defenses. Savona insists on the need for “urgent countermeasures” and of aunified infrastructure that protects the system's sensitive data. And that's why he called for the creation of "a Single electronic center for the management of sensitive data”, addressing parliamentarians directly, asking them “openly to grant them the information” to address “this new type of revolution”.
The stakes
The concern isn't just about cryptocurrencies themselves, but the currency conflict they're fueling. Already in recent weeks, speaking about stablecoins and the growing weight of digital currencies pegged to the dollar, Savona had raised the issue. risk of a drift that penalizes Europe.
La The battle over cryptocurrencies has now become a global monetary competition that risks putting Europe in a weak position.Without its own tools to ensure transparency, security, and data control, the Union could be overtaken by external actors who don't comply with institutional rules. The digital revolution has already begun, and European authorities, Savona warns, must act now so as not to be left behind.
