Key Takeaways
- Germany could back Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel to succeed ECB President Lagarde if she resigns early.
- Despite stiff competition, Germany’s backing could propel Nagel to lead Europe’s central banking system.
- Nagel is fiercely anti-crypto and opposes using Bitcoin as a reserve asset, signaling strict ECB policies.
Joachim Nagel’s Bid To Become ECB President Under Consideration
The position of European Central Bank (ECB) president could be open before 2027, and an anti-crypto economist might be in the race to take it over.
Bloomberg reports indicate that discussions are underway to back a German economist for the ECB Presidency if a contingency arises, as speculation of a hypothetical early resignation of President Christine Lagarde surges.
The candidate would be current Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, who assumed office under German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in 2022. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil would back Nagel’s bid, while Conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has not publicly supported him, leaving Nagel’s bid still in the works.
Nagel’s chances would be slim, and he would emerge as a kind of dark horse, as most economists believe that Pablo Hernández de Cos, former Governor of the Bank of Spain and current General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), would be elected, leaving behind Klaas Knot, another major candidate. De Cos has a critical stance on private money, stressing that wide adoption of stablecoins could present macroeconomic risks.
Even so, the backing of the German government, which manages Europe’s largest economy, could propel Nagel in the race, giving him the impulse needed to win.
Nagel has openly criticized cryptocurrencies in the past; in the event of a victory, he is expected to follow Lagarde’s skeptical stance on private money, namely stablecoins, and other cryptocurrencies.
In a 2025 interview, he compared the rise of unbanked crypto assets such as bitcoin to the tulip mania of the 17th century. “Hype always dies down at some point. Crypto-assets such as Bitcoin are digital tulips,” he stressed.
Furthermore, he opposes using bitcoin as a reserve asset, explaining that reserve assets “must be secure, liquid and transparent.” “Bitcoin is none of these things,” he concluded, a vision similar to Lagarde’s.
