Bitcoin
Former Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Blocked Trump’s Attempt to Ban Bitcoin in 2020
Former US President Donald Trump almost banned Bitcoin in 2020, according to Mike Brock, CEO of TBD, a division of Jack Dorseyfintech company Block Inc.
In a July 18 post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Brock stated:
“Trump tried to ban Bitcoin in 2020, until Steve Mnuchin and a group of people in the administration slowed his efforts to preserve American competitiveness and innovation.”
Mnuchin served as the 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury during Trump’s presidency. At the time, Trump was a vocal critic of digital assets and had publicly stated that he was not a “fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money and whose value is highly volatile and based on nothing.”
Brock’s statement comes amid the recent move into the emerging cryptocurrency industrywhere he is winning a strong support. He has also gained support in Silicon Valley for his progressive stance on technology.
While some stakeholders, such as Messari CEO Ryan Selkis and Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood supported him, skeptics like Brock remain.
According to Brock, Trump doesn’t care about Bitcoin and only sees the industry’s support “as an easy fundraiser and election win.” He added:
“He will walk into the White House and immediately begin the process of doing to them what he has done to every other voter he has courted: leaving them high and dry.”
When asked if Trump’s View on Cryptocurrencies could have evolved, Brock disagreed, stating:
“Trump doesn’t believe in anything but himself.”
Brock’s perspective is aligned with Arthur Hayesthe co-founder of BitMEX exchange, which recently warned that Trump’s recent pro-crypto stance was false.
Hay stated:
“I am appalled that many crypto experts who should know better are now blindly doing extravagant fundraising for the Trump campaign. Trump is a shrewd politician, he will say anything to whoever is re-elected. Once in office, anything related to crypto will be a distant memory.”
Notably, the upcoming November elections have created political awareness across the industry, with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently alerting voters about supporting pro-crypto candidates who may be making empty promises.