European Central Bank head personally confesses during student interaction

Lagarde is no stranger to expressing her views on cryptocurrencies, viewing them as speculative tools "often used by criminals." Despite her repeated warnings against impulsive trades involving the same, her family fell victim to such transactions. Her son lost a significant amount of money trading in cryptocurrencies, according to the Reuters agency.

"He ignored me," Lagarde admitted on Friday during a student meeting in Frankfurt. "And he lost almost all the money he had invested."

"It wasn't a lot, but it all went, down to about 60 percent," Lagarde noted. "When I discussed it with him afterward, he reluctantly conceded that I was right," she added.

People should have the freedom to invest their money as they wish and speculate if desired. However, they should not be permitted to engage in activities associated with criminal penalties - she concluded.

The ECB has consistently advocated for worldwide regulation of cryptographic assets as an institution. These calls aim at protecting consumers from potential unaware risks and closing gaps that could be exploited for terrorism financing or enabling money laundering by criminals.

The fear that privately issued currencies might replace government money served as one of the driving factors for the ECB's initiation of a digital euro project. However, the bank is still a few years away from issuing any such digital currency.

Last month, the bank commenced the "preparation phase" for the digital euro but noted that it would need another two years to determine whether it should be introduced or not.