Crypto leaders press Trump to create federal bitcoin reserve

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Crypto leaders press Trump to create federal bitcoin reserve
The president-elect has previously expressed support for the idea, which some economists say could be inflationary and costly.

By Tony Romm
November 27, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST

Top cryptocurrency executives and investors are pushing President-elect Donald Trump to create a national stockpile of bitcoin, a move that could more closely tie the little-regulated, volatile industry to the future of the country’s finances.

{paywall}

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/11/27/trump-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-plan/

[Historic NY]

1. then some hacker will bleed it dry

[no_hypocrisy]

2. My question is whether the Department of Treasury will allow this to happen.

Having a parallel mode of currency and credit can destabilize both national and international economies.

Try paying your 1040 with crypto . . . . .

On edit: With crypto, the valuations fluctuate, sometimes by seconds. That makes it unreliable as currency. The same principle is why we don't pay for stuff with gold coins.

[Midnight Writer]

9. Thank you for pointing out that crypto valuations are extremely unstable.

They are also vulnerable to manipulation by super-wealthy players.

We do not want our economy to rely on crypto currency.

[groundloop]

12. "vulnerable to manipulation by super-wealthy players" - for tRUMP that's a good thing.

For normal Americans not so much.

[sop]

3. In the annals of the history of corruption, this will make the Teapot Dome Scandal pale in comparison.

[Marthe48]

4. I hope this fails

It sounds like another scam to gut our economy.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

5. I must confess

I don't understand bitcoin at all. Isn't it just that some people got together and invented their own version of money? And now they want it sanctioned by the government?

[highplainsdem]

7. See reply 6.

[highplainsdem]

6. This will undermine the dollar, and that's the intent. See

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219766253

See this article by Gil Duran as well:

https://newrepublic.com/article/185738/coinbase-brian-armstrong-crypto-lobbying-washington-politicians

[OrwellwasRight]

8. Isn't this against the raison d'tre of crypto?

Wasn't crypto supposedly developed to work as a currency when governments fail?

If crypto is the currency of anti-government libertarians, then why ask governments to buy it? Hmmmm...

If folks could just ask themselves a couple questions about these crypto schemes, they would see the contradictions and hypocrisy inherent in the system.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. "... then why ask governments to buy it?"

There has to be some chump left holding the bag when this fails.

And good morning.

[love_katz]

10. This is really bad.

Ripping us all off for every cent they can grab. That's the reason the oligarchs are lusting for this.
Fake Internet money that isn't backed by any government, only has value because some tech bro says it does, can't be traced so it can be used for money laundering for bribes from foreign governments, can be used for drug running and human trafficking, etc, as nauseum.
And see post #6 about how the value is rapidly fluctuating.

I mean, what could go wrong?

[FakeNoose]

13. Oh. My. God...

Chump needs to be Article 25'd immediately. Then the next Article 25 is for Vance.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. They want a federal crypto black hole, not a reserve; and that's to keep crypto as a Ponzi scheme

The article notes that when crypto is seized as the proceeds of crime (a fairly regular occurrence, of course), governments then sell it off. And the bros are pissed off that this goes against their aim of enticing in more suckers with "ever-rising prices" by restricting the supply, to just the crypto that the bros own. So they want the federal government to hold onto all that it gets (and maybe spend real money buying it too) - for decades. They claim the mantra should be "never sell crypto" (well, yes, that is what the runners of a Ponzi scheme would say - they don't want people wanting real money by selling, or the price will crash. They want to be some of the few people selling).

But that means it's not a "reserve" (eg the federal petroleum reserve is actually used every so often), it's a one-way black hole. Which keeps the price the bros can sell at high. This is just them wanting the government to manipulate the crypto market to their benefit.

At least Moody's has someone who sees it clearly:

“There’s just no discernible logic to do it,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “I get why the crypto investor would love it. Other than the crypto investor, I don’t see the value, particularly if taxpayers have to ante up.”

[Blue_Tires]

15. Am I the only one old enough to remember

One of the biggest selling points of cryptocurrency was how it had zero government involvement whatsoever?

[OrwellwasRight]

16. You are not.

Clearly, it was always a scam, but now much more overtly so...

[NoodleyAppendage]

17. Satoshi Nakamoto could then destroy the US economy

There are 1 million Bitcoins sitting in the blockchain, assigned to the keys owned by "Satoshi Nakamoto," which if Bitcoin becomes the fiat currency would make this person the richest person ever on Earth. Flooding the crypto market with these 1 million 'genesis' Bitcoins would bring all world financial systems to a halt, if crypto overtakes cash.

[vapor2]

18. Bill Maher's take on crypto

. altho 3 years ago still applies

[travelingthrulife]

19. Well, pony up the money dudes! You hit the magic bribe number and

you win your prize!