What are Bitcoin critics really afraid of?
In a recent op-ed in The Nation, TIME business reporter Sam Gustin told readers to “be afraid.” He is warning them about cryptocurrency and Donald Trump.
In the book, the author quotes Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz as saying, “There is a great danger of self-dealing here.”
About Trump, Cryptocurrency Economist Warning
“The danger is not just a conflict of interest, but a mindset among Trump and his cronies that they don't even understand the concept of a conflict of interest,” Stigitz said.
“The irony is that here we have the most pro-billionaire, pro-wealth president elected on the ‘people's' platform in American history.
“The result, experts say, is higher prices, less consumer protection, and deeper economic inequality in the United States,” Gustin wrote.
But is that true?
Is cryptocurrency really transferring the largest amount of wealth in history from the middle class to billionaires?
The Bitcoin Populist Appeal
If anything, the most die-hard advocates of crypto argue that the traditional financial system, based on credit, redistributes to billionaires. Because it regularly revalues its debt in cheap dollars. Billionaires and their companies use very debt-based instruments.
Meanwhile, an ever-increasing monetary system causes prices to rise. Crypto assets, on the other hand, reward people for hoarding their money, resulting in lower prices. An easy credit economy rewards businesses with large expense accounts to spend their money.
Moreover, the Republican Party's calculations on crypto are helping to ensure consumer protection. But that doesn't stop him from allowing others more freedom.
Many blockchain users are willing to take the risks of pushing liquid financial markets and pushing the limits of the Internet's capabilities.
As for economic inequality, it has been a decades-old grievance of voters under traditional financial systems. Their benefits seem to start at a certain level of economy that is beyond the reach of most people.
This is not the case with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which make the profits of market capitalism equally available to participants at any level of involvement.
The price of Bitcoin was only $43,000 a year ago. Today, however, it is more than double that amount, trading at $103,000 on Saturday. That represents over 130% investment returns for crypto buyers who bought Bitcoin last January.
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