Trump’s Dislike of Bitcoin Unites and Emboldens Crypto Community

The other shoe has dropped, and the president of the United States doesn’t like bitcoin. While disappointing, it’s not entirely shocking that a man who accumulated his wealth in the real estate market would take issue with a non-sovereign currency. His rejection of the digital currency, however, largely seemed to inspire a collective sigh of relief from the crypto community. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that even President Trump can’t stop bitcoin.

As Gemini Co-Founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss pointed out earlier this week, the only way to stop bitcoin is to “shut down the internet.” While much of the World Wide Web suffered outages today, this isn’t North Korea. In response to Trump, Gemini quoted Tyler Winklevoss, saying:

“We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error.”

Kraken CEO Jesse Powell urged the president not to stifle innovation in the U.S. There are plenty of crypto-friendly jurisdictions that entrepreneurs, developers, and others can take their talents to.

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire was also among the first to respond, suggesting that crypto has finally arrived now that it has become a global policy issue. He says it’s “possibly the largest bull signal for BTC ever.”

Nonetheless, the bitcoin price basically yawned on the heels of the president’s comments. The fact that it didn’t shock investors and send the price reeling is a positive sign for the market including tomorrow’s trading.

Bitcoin barely budged. | Source: TradingView

ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees likened the legacy financial system to that of the U.S. Postal Service, which has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur given the rise of email and faster delivery companies.

Bitcoin isn’t limited by any borders or governed by any single jurisdiction. San Francisco-based Coinbase employees nearly 1,000 people, according to Owler, and they are just one example. President Trump is extremely proud of the country’s jobs record, and crypto is a burgeoning industry that is helping to fuel that growth. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also responded to the president’s dislike of bitcoin:

No doubt all eyes are going to turn toward Andrew Yang, who is a presidential candidate for the Democrats. Yang already envisions a world in which the blockchain is “a big part of the future.” He is cited in Fortune as saying:

“If I’m in the White House, oh boy are we going to have some fun in terms of the cryptocurrency community.”

And while leaders in the crypto community were emboldened, there were others still who expressed their concern that this will be a hurdle to mainstream adoption. But even today progress was made with the first token sale regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

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