- Ron Paul defends virtual currencies and believes they are a “great idea”
- The comments show contrast with what Steven Mnuchin and Donald Trump said about Bitcoin
During the last few days, we have seen how many different relevant political figures in the United States have been attacking Bitcoin (BTC) and virtual currencies. Steven Mnuchin, U.S. secretary of the treasury and a former banker said that these digital assets are a national security issue. U.S. President Donald Trump has also written on Twitter that cryptocurrencies are used by criminals. The libertarian politician Ron Paul has defended Bitcoin and called virtual currencies a
“great idea.”
Ron Paul Defends Cryptocurrencies
It was not a good beginning of the week for digital currencies and Bitcoin. Virtual currencies were attacked by Donald Trump and Steven Mnuchin due to the risks and negative aspects of these new assets.
Ron Paul, who is often a presidential candidate in the libertarian movement, talked on CNBC’s Squawk Box and called digital assets a “great idea.” This politician is also a supporter of precious metals, including gold and he has been a Bitcoin supporter.
Libra, the cryptocurrency announced by Facebook on June 18, has also been attacked by regulators around the world that consider that it can be a competitor to national currencies. He has also said that he does not know what is going to happen with Facebook’s Libra, even when he likes competing currencies. He has also shown his support to Facebook saying that he is in favor of everything that the firm is doing.
About it, he commented:
“Historically, governments always have to have a monopoly control over money and credit. That’s why we have a Federal Reserve instead of allowing the market to operate.”
Libra is a stablecoin that was announced by Facebook and that its goal is to offer a faster and simpler way for users to make transactions, transfers and spend their money. The digital asset is going to be backed by fiat currencies from different countries including the euro, the U.S. dollar, the Japanese yen and the British pound.
Fmr. Texas Congressman Ron Paul says he's all for crypto and blockchain.
"I'm for the least amount of regulation and I think cryptocurrencies are a great idea. Just one rule: no fraud!" @CNBC @carlquintanilla @MorganLBrennan @jonfortt pic.twitter.com/VRhGOfQebM
— Squawk Alley (@SquawkAlley) July 15, 2019
He has also mentioned that the U.S. dollar is not going to last a long period of time. As he said, fiat currencies are going to self-destruct, they are all just paper currencies.
The negative comments seem to have affected Bitcoin and virtual currencies. The most popular digital asset fell under $10,000 for a brief period of time. Currently, Bitcoin is being traded around $10,800 and it has a market capitalization of $17.82 million.
