On November 19th, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked about the rise of cryptocurrency. Claiming that they may undermine the role of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency and undermine the stability of countries. She further stated:
“I hope that another area that countries will pay more attention to is the rise of cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency mining and its transactions may destroy currencies, undermine the role of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency, and undermine the stability of the country.”
This is the first time that the former first lady of the United States has sharply criticized cryptocurrency. Back in September 2018, she only confirmed that there were no Bitcoins when answering a series of quick questions. According to an email issued by WikiLeaks in 2016, Clinton’s senior campaign aides rejected the idea of accepting Bitcoin donations because they thought it was “too liberal”.
Hillary Clinton was the Democratic presidential candidate during the 2016 election. Trump defeated the former Democratic candidate in the 2016 election. However, the destabilizing effect of cryptocurrency is one of the very few things that Clinton and former President Donald Trump agreed on. Trump has also bluntly expressed his contempt for cryptocurrencies. Trump even called Bitcoin a “scam” in an interview in June.
Hillary Clinton is optimistic about blockchain technology
Although Hillary Clinton said that cryptocurrency poses a direct threat to the global currency market, she expressed her interest in blockchain technology, one of the underlying technologies of Bitcoin, as early as 2016. And support the application of blockchain technology in the public sector. Governments and elected officials around the world, regardless of their political stance, should understand the potential impact of blockchain-based applications. They must understand how to use the technology to increase the credibility of government services and weaken bureaucracy. And how citizens can use the technology to regain control of personal data, such as medical records. Finally, how can the federal government accelerate the development of this key technology?
The Clinton campaign also stated at the time:
“We must allow American innovators to lead the world in the next technological revolution—from self-driving cars to machine learning to public service blockchain applications—and we must defend universal access to the global digital thought market.”