China, Biden and the Fed May Be About to ‘Destroy All the Value of Bitcoin’

by Arthur · April 28, 2023

BitcoinBTC has roared back this year, rocketing to around $30,000 per bitcoin despite crypto being declared “dead in America.”

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The Bitcoin price has doubled since it crashed to a low of around $15,000 in the wake of FTX’s sudden implosion in November (although a new cryptocurrency has left it in the dust).

Now, after a major bank strategist issued an eye-popping $2 trillion price prediction for bitcoin, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, an outspoken bitcoin supporter, has warned a future digital dollar and other digital central bank currencies (CBDCs) could “destroy all the value of bitcoin.”

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a digital yuan will be followed by a digital dollar, pointing to President Joe Biden’s executive order that directed the Federal Reserve to explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

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“We see China moving forward with the intention of using a CBDC to destroy all value of bitcoin, to destroy anonymity, to destroy decentralization,” Cruz said at the Bitcoin Policy Summit this week. “Joe Biden, early in his presidency, issued an executive order directing the Federal Reserve to study the creation of a CBDC, and the New York branch of the Fed is working to do just that.”

CBDCs, inspired by bitcoin and digital currencies, are being explored by governments and central banks around the world, with China currently leading the way with its digital yuan.

“I think it’s extraordinarily dangerous,” Cruz added. “I’m very concerned about the risks of a CBDC.” However, Cruz said he remains “incredibly bullish” on bitcoin, calling it “clearly the alpha in the current cryptosphere.”

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bitcoin loss in 2022.

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Some believe the development of a digital dollar could lead to the extinction of physical cash and play havoc with the commercial banking system as people manage all their money in an app-based account at the Federal Reserve.

“The same people who want to see a CBDC, they hate bitcoin, and they hate cash,” Cruz said. “Let’s be clear, they don’t like cash for exactly the reason I like cash because it’s not subject to centralized control that’s not subject to constant surveillance.”

Last month, Cruz introduced legislation that would prevent the creation of a digital dollar, arguing that the US government has “no authority to unilaterally establish a central bank currency.”

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I am a journalist with significant experience in technology, finance, economics and business around the world. As founding editor of Verdict.co.uk, I reported on how technology is changing business, political trends and the latest culture and lifestyle. I have covered the rise of bitcoin and cryptocurrency since 2012 and have charted its rise from a niche technology to the greatest threat to the established financial system the world has ever seen and the most important new technology since the internet itself. I have worked and written for, among others, CityAM, the Financial Times and the New Statesman. Follow me on Twitter @billybambrough or email me at billyATbillybambrough.com. Disclosure: I occasionally hold a small amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.