Former President Donald Trump took a swing at cryptocurrencies and said that he thinks Bitcoin is a “scam.”
Trump, calling in to Fox Business Monday morning, was asked about whether Bitcoin, which is the largest of the cryptocurrencies, should be regulated. He said he thinks it should and emphasized the importance of U.S. currency.
“My opinion is that — the currency of this world should be the dollar, and I don’t think we should have all of the Bitcoins of the world out there,” Trump said. “I think they should regulate them very, very high, but the currency should be the dollar.”
The former president added that with alternative currencies like Bitcoin floating around, it “takes the edge off of the dollar and the importance of the dollar.”
“Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam,” he quipped later during the interview.
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The remarks come as cryptocurrencies face increased scrutiny by companies, governments, and individuals. China recently sent the price of Bitcoin into the red when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He called for the “crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior, and resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose remarks have an outsize influence on the crypto markets, has also caused cryptocurrency prices to plummet in recent weeks. Musk announced that his company, citing environmental concerns, was suspending the use of Bitcoin to purchase vehicles. He cited concerns about the environmental toll mining for Bitcoin can have, especially in places like China that use coal energy.
Musk also caused Bitcoin prices to drop last week when he tweeted a meme of a couple who are breaking up. He captioned the meme #Bitcoin with a broken heart emoji.
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Despite the recent declines in price relative to the all-time highs that Bitcoin experienced in April (when it reached $63,000) some experts are bullish on cryptocurrencies. Financial services giant Goldman Sachs recently labeled Bitcoin a “new asset class.” Carlyle Group co-founder and investor David Rubenstein also revealed he has invested in companies that facilitate cryptocurrency trade.
