Italy's Ministry of Finance warns tariffs and cryptocurrencies are being used as economic weapons threatening global stability

Italy's Ministry of Finance published remarks by Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti delivered in Bergamo at the oath ceremony for Guardia di Finanza officer cadets, warning that tariffs and cryptocurrencies are increasingly being deployed as “economic weapons” that can undermine global stability. He argued that, in an era of tariffs, algorithms and cryptoassets, specialist expertise and political judgement will be decisive. The speech framed the current environment as marked by geopolitical conflict, heightened political and economic uncertainty and growing technological threats. Giorgetti said tariffs are no longer just tools to defend national economies but strategic levers that can alter global trade flows, influence political alliances and reshape geopolitics, while cryptocurrencies can operate outside traditional banking channels and challenge the centrality of sovereign currencies, creating new forms of economic independence. Against this backdrop, he called for preventing these “non-conventional weapons” from being used in ways that undermine stability and justice globally, and stressed that economic and financial security remains a central national priority, reinforcing the importance of the Guardia di Finanza’s role.