Hillary Clinton sees cryptocurrencies as a threat to the dollar. Is this really the case?
Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has said that cryptocurrencies are a “very interesting and exotic” concept, but they also have the potential to undermine the dollar’s economic clout. In her view, cryptocurrencies “in the wrong hands” could become a formidable weapon against entire nations. Such fears of politicians are not surprising because no one controls the crypto market and Bitcoin – the digital asset sector is decentralised and depends only on the community of people who invest in it. And this is traditionally a nightmare for regulators and officials in general. We tell you more about what’s going on.
Note that criticism of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin in particular is everywhere and regularly. For example, in October 2021, Sir John Cunliffe, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England (BoE), called the main digital asset a dangerous phenomenon that allegedly could cause a global financial crisis. Such a rejoinder seemed very odd given the overall capitalisation of the cryptocurrency market, which is still very small in the context of the global economy.
You can read more about the banker’s position in this piece.
Bitcoin as a threat to the dollar
Here’s a quote from Clinton from her speech at the New Economy Forum event, in which she shares her perspective on the situation. The speech is cited by Decrypt.
What looks like a very interesting and exotic concept could undermine traditional monetary instruments, undermine the dollar’s role as a reserve currency and destabilize entire countries.
Accordingly, Clinton's stance on cryptocurrencies is directly negative, as they are allegedly a danger to the dollar. That said, we see the main danger to the dollar and other fiat currencies as the actions of local governments. After all, they are the ones who have inflated the money supply to an unbelievable extent, causing a depreciation of the existing money supply and a general rise in prices as well.
At the same time, Bitcoin has a limited maximum supply of 21 million coins - and there is no way to increase that number. Neither can the rate of BTC issuance be accelerated. And that is the clear opposite of the situation with regular money. Therefore, at least in terms of issuance, calling Bitcoin a threat to the dollar is ridiculous. Because the dollar has a lot to learn from BTC here.
Former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton
And here’s a statement on the “bad influence” of crypto.
A whole new level of activity is emerging that could be extremely destabilizing or, in the wrong hands in alliance with the wrong people, could pose a direct threat to many of our national interests and certainly to global currency markets.
On the whole, though not exactly radical, Clinton’s position echoes former US President Donald Trump’s in many ways. Recall that during his presidency, Trump said that the crypto market looks “like one big fraudulent scheme”.
Bitcoin and traditional currencies
Speaking of fraud. The news outlet Decrypt has also published some interesting statistics regarding the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigations. It turns out that cryptocurrencies appear in 93 percent of IRS cases involving the seizure of money from citizens who engage in illegal financial transactions. In total, the IRS criminal division has seized more than $3.5 billion in crypto.
We believe that the problem of digital asset fraud does exist, but the industry as a whole carries more advantages than disadvantages. It can transform the global financial system on a decentralised basis and solve many of its problems. The same is true for ordinary users, who now have the ability to make affordable international payments and not be dependent on anyone else.
What do you think about this? Share your opinion in our Millionaire Crypto Chat. There, we’ll talk about other topics related to blockchain and decentralised assets.
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