Many of you will have read Trump’s recent tweets; the ones where he proclaimed that he isn’t a “fan” of bitcoin. In the President’s opinion, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not money, unlike the mighty US dollar, which he believes is the strongest currency in the world.
And while he was tweeting about bitcoin, he took the opportunity to take a swipe at Facebook’s Libra. He said “it will have little standing or dependability” and then went on a rant about banking licences, posting: ““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.”
This was not the end of his tweets. It seems that once Trump gets his teeth into a topic, he just can’t stop tweeting. He finished off his diatribe against cryptos by moaning about how crypto facilitates “unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activities.” Somebody obviously told him this once and it has stuck in his head, never mind the fact that most drugs in the USA are bought with US dollars, Trump’s favourite currency. And he had to tweet about how strong, dependable and reliable the dollar is as well, just to drive the point home.
Did Trump’s tweets affect crypto prices?
Interestingly, just before Trump unleashed his anti-crypto tweets, bitcoin’s price rose. However over the last few days we have seen a big price correction for bitcoin and across the leading altcoins.
But don’t think this is because of Trump. There is another way to look at it as as Michael J. Casey at Coindesk explains. He writes, “What matters is the very fact that a sitting president mentioned cryptocurrencies at all. Indeed, from a price perspective, Trump’s disparaging remarks are, on balance, positive for bitcoin.” And he adds that by Friday evening this was clear in the post-tweet price behaviour of bitcoin.
Furthermore, his argument continues along an important line: ““More importantly, the tweet marks a symbolic milestone in the gradual but ever-expanding presence that cryptocurrency occupies in the public conversation around money and policy.”
Trump reveals bitcoin’s power
What Casey is saying is that Trump has unwittingly started a battle over the future shape of global money systems. As he says, bitcoin and crypto in general has to be relevant to us the people to enjoy success. The fact that Trump has tweeted about it reveals that it is seen as a threat by governments, and that means it is relevant. Casey says, “By simply giving it the time of day, Trump revealed that people within the high levels of the U.S. power structure are noticing the challenge that cryptocurrency technology poses to it.” Yes!
The response of the massive Crypto community on Twitter showed that they didn’t take the President at all seriously. And why would anyone, when the President announced on 4th July that American soldiers took over airports from the British during the American War of Independence in 1775?