The US president is a staunch critic of bitcoin. US President Donald Trump, in a series of tweets, said that he's not a fan of the cryptocurrency. Computer World reported that he is not convinced how a currency is based on "thin air," suggesting a series of moves that could let the government step in and push new regulations and more scrutiny into bitcoin itself.
In one tweet, the US president said that "unregulated crypto-assets" is a breeding ground for "unlawful" behavior. He said that drugs, guns, and other illegally traded assets might be bought online using the unregulated bitcoin. This was also made only a day after the Federal Reserve's Jerome Powell made allegations into bitcoin's acceptance.
He said that acknowledgment of bitcoin right now may yet be far, as it is still "a speculative store of value, like gold." These remarks were heard during Powell's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday to discuss Facebook's recently announced Libra, a cryptocurrency project that the social media giant is ready to explore.
Naturally, bitcoin analysts took to reading between the lines of the President's tweet. The US president is still considered the most powerful man in the world, and his view of bitcoin may create a stir. For better or worse, the experts couldn't say. However, mere moments after the president's comments, no visible action on bitcoin prices have been seen.
Analysts are, however, exploring the possibility that bitcoin or cryptocurrency gets destroyed by the government. The general belief is that the government doesn't have the power to do so, although they could still ban the purchase and/or ownership of the said cryptocurrency, for any practical applications that doing so might have. Analysts noted that the government hasn't banned cryptocurrencies so far.
Bitcoin is also observed as "safer" today than when it started. Bitcoin was supposed to take flight when the US president slammed it; it still hasn't happened, and the "digital revolution" has yet to arrive. For now, fiat currency dependency is still widespread.
The issue right now is whether the US will make a turnaround and explore the possibility of cryptocurrencies, even if they don't wholeheartedly support the movement. China doesn't like the use of crypto, although it is actively exploring the creation of a regulated crypto coin of their own. The US runs the risk of letting China be the first power in the world to adopt crypto coin usage.
