The crypto industry has responded to criticism from Hillary Clinton, who said that cryptocurrency can undermine the role of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz argued that the only thing that can undermine the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency is reckless spending by both U.S. political parties. Meanwhile, Elon Musk slammed the U.S. government for using the dollar as a political tool, stating: “We have overplayed our hand in weaponizing the dollar. It was a dumb move.”
Bitcoin and U.S. Dollar’s Reserve Currency Status
A video featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2019 comments about cryptocurrency resurfaced on social media platform X over the weekend, sparking renewed debate within the crypto community. Despite being from a November 2019 panel discussion, the video prompted responses and criticisms from many in the crypto space.
Clinton said: “One more area that I hope nation-states start paying greater attention to is the rise of cryptocurrency — because what looks like a very interesting, and somewhat exotic effort to literally mine new coins in order to trade with them, has the potential for undermining currencies, for undermining the role of the dollar as the reserve currency, for destabilizing nations, perhaps starting with small ones but going much larger.”
Responding to Clinton alleging that bitcoin has the potential to undermine the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz wrote on X Saturday:
The only thing that can undermine the $ as a reserve currency is reckless spending by BOTH parties. Trump and Biden have normalized huge deficits and have put us into the worst fiscal crisis of my lifetime. Don’t blame BTC. It is a report card on fiscal responsibility.
Lawyer John E. Deaton commented: “The incumbents who’ve been in power for decades are threatened by anything they can’t control. Bitcoin is an asset. Period. In America, people have the right to own assets. The fact that these politicians, who believe in the government telling people what they can own and how they should live, are scared of bitcoin is the best advertisement to own it. God forbid regular people have access to the number one appreciating asset of all time.”
Brian Morgenstern, head of Public Policy at Riot Platforms, also responded to Clinton’s warning: “No, $2T deficits undermine the dollar. The government spending 38% more than it collects causes dollar debasement. On the other hand, BTC and other commodities could strengthen the dollar by tying it to global asset values and creating cross-border efficiencies.”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin also discussed the U.S. dollar losing its dominance. He claimed that the U.S. is killing the dollar with its own hands by using the currency as a political tool. Commenting on Putin’s statements, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on X Friday:
We have overplayed our hand in weaponizing the dollar. It was a dumb move.
What do you think about Hillary Clinton’s warning regarding crypto potentially undermining the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status and the responses by the crypto community? Let us know in the comments section below.
