President of the United States, Donald Trump tweets against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Coinbase CEO calls it an achievement “unlocked”.
President Donald Trump tweeted about cryptocurrencies in general and bitcoin in particular stating that “I am not a fan”. The statement comes amid multiple investigations by various departments of the US government into the possible dangers of Libra and other cryptocurrencies.
Trump tweeted today that –
“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity….
….Similarly, Facebook Libra’s “virtual currency” will have little standing or dependability. If Facebook and other companies want to become a bank, they must seek a new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National…
…and International. We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!
Twitter exploded with responses to the series of tweets, with user Steven Walk @realstevenwalk pointing out that “The U.S. dollar’s value is also “based on thin air.” The gold standard is history. It’s called “fiat currency” for a reason.” The user is making a reference to the separating of the dollar from the value of Gold, which is why it is called a “fiat” currency meaning that it backed by the central bank of the country and the government backing it. The rest of the responses were made in jest to the trump tweets against bitcoin.
The recent tweets may be funny but their possible repercussions on cryptocurrency cannot be underestimated. The current regulation on cryptocurrency may be stifling growth, with some governments viewing this as a good thing. Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, has got a bad reputation because of its use by criminal elements all over the world, as it keeps user information anonymous.
Coinbase Tweet
Not everyone is worried though. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, tweeted out in response to Trump saying –
Achievement unlocked! I dreamt about a sitting U.S. president needing to respond to growing cryptocurrency usage years ago. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”. We just made it to step 3 y’all.
Federal Reserve On Crypto
Cryptocurrencies have been the news for lack of regulation according to various US government offices. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed broad concern about Facebook Inc.’s plan to create a cryptocurrency-based payment network. He affirmed that the project should not be allowed to go forward until sufficient regulations and checks have been set in place to stop the misuse of this currency. Mr Powell made these statements when addressing the Senate Banking Committee recently.
Watch the short clip where Mr. Powell mentions the unfeasibility of introducing Libra into the economy in the near future.
…as policymakers we need to come together and do that. The last question is on libra and facebook. If facebook can’t sufficiently answer your questions about anti-money laundering what would your message about to the banks that provide banking to facebook and what would your advice to facebook be? >> I don’t think that the project can go forward and I don’t think — I just think
The recent trend against cryptocurrencies seemed to be moving towards resolution between the Trump tweets against bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It predicts a longer than anticipated time for crypto acceptance on a large scale.
