At the Bloomberg New Economy Conference, former U.S. Secretary of State and Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton spoke about Bitcoin and its potential to trigger a change in the global economy and its world order.
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In a panel comprised of former U.K. Primer Minister Tony Blair, India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and Clinton, the participants talked about the probability of a new Cold War between China and the U.S., and “humanity’s common enemies”.
Clinton, like many other U.S. top government officials, thinks the cryptocurrency poses a threat to the United States and its currency, the U.S. dollar. The former Secretary of State listed Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as one of the dangers of the coming decade.
In a list, comprised of disinformation to unbalance nation-states, global warming, and artificial intelligence, Clinton believes cryptocurrencies are more than a “very interesting and exotic effort to mine”.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, as Clinton said, have the potential to undermine entire countries, and specifically to potentially render the U.S. dollar obsolete as the global reserve currency. These assets could be utilized by those nations, such as Russia, as obstacles against the interest of the U.S. and its allies.
In this vision presented by Clinton, bad actors employ non-state resources to “pursuit personal and rationalistic goals”. The Former Secretary of State could be referring to hacker groups and other forms of illicit activities back by Russia and other nations.
These organizations used their technological capabilities to target companies and institutions in the Western Hemisphere, to demand Bitcoin and crypto payments. Thus, Clinton seems to admire China’s approach to cryptocurrencies and believes other nations should take the same approach, in other words, a full-on ban on these assets:
It appears as though China is going to prevent outside technology payment systems, like the cryptocurrencies development, from playing a big role inside China. I think they recognize, giving their nationalism, perhaps earlier than other nations, that this could be a direct threat to sovereignty.
Bitcoin To Destabilize The World?
The former U.S. government official continued presenting her hypothetical scenario where Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could should they fall “in the wrong hands”, potentially destroy entire nation-states. Furthermore, the alleged mayhem could extend to the entire “global currency market”.
The Bitcoin and the crypto community responded with mixed feelings. Some believe that BTC is finally getting the recognition it deserves and that Clinton’s words are a form of legitimation.
On the other hand, others believe the Former U.S. Secretary of State and First Lady missed out on the innovation and improvements that cryptocurrencies could facilitate in the legacy financial system.
Other U.S. government officials, including the current FED Chair Jerome Powell and the Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, have called Bitcoin a “speculative attack on the dollar”. The country seems to be becoming more hostile towards the crypto industry, but only time will tell if it follows Clinton’s recommendation and takes a similar stand to China’s.
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As of press time, Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $58,000 as it recovers from of its most bloody days in 2021.
