Bitcoin is finding in the conservative side of the political spectrum, it most unexpected but strongest ally.
From Senator Cynthia Lummis (Republican for Wyoming) who has been very vocal in the need for the United States to engage in the race to lead the cryptocurrencies industry, to Representative Ted Budd (Republican for North Carolina), who asked a series of questions to Jerome Powell Chairman of the Federal Reserve on the topic and resulting in Mr. Powell acknowledging that the Fed will not try to ban cryptocurrencies in the country.
What Chairman Powell did in fact was signaling the appetite of the Federal Reserve to explore the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC.
This comment opened the gates of a very intense debate for several reasons. The main one is the fact that the United States by design does not have what other countries could call Central Bank, it has instead a pseudo structure with a public-private hybrid foundation.
So, the mere intention to create a product, no matter how innovative it might be in some similar fashion to an artifact that it could be created by a Central Bank, is something that is raising plenty of eyebrows in Congress.
The last influential politician to speak up on this topic was Representative Tom Emmer (Republican for Minnesota) by proposing a bill to limit the Fed’s ability to issue CBDCs, saying that “Not only would this CBDC model centralize Americans’ financial information, leaving it vulnerable to attack, but it could also be used as a surveillance tool that Americans should never tolerate from their own government.”
This is very interesting because for so many years the media have been telling the people that cryptocurrencies are the perfect tool to facilitate illicit activities such as money laundering due to its anonymity, but here we are in 2022 arguing in Congress that the reality is completely the opposite.
Thanks to its technology, a digital currency controlled by a central entity could be a very dangerous tool (in the views of Representative Emmer) given its ability to track absolutely everything.
The Federal Reserve is due to issue a paper on the treatment of cryptocurrencies and CBDCs since September of last year.
There are rumors that the document could be out at any time this week.
If the content of the paper confirms the words of Chairman Powell, it could represent decent news for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and this is a development that specialized Investment Funds such as Belobaba will follow very closely.
Meanwhile the crypto community in the country can only do two things, the first is just wait and the second is to enjoy in amazement on how one of the main political forces of the country is holding the libertarian flag under the influence of Bitcoin.