- Donald Trump wanted to “go after Bitcoin” in May 2018 according to John Bolton
- Trump wanted Bitcoin censured for fraud without realizing that was impossible
- Shutting down Bitcoin is not only impossible but also illegal
Donald Trump wanted to “go after Bitcoin” in 2018 according to his former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton states in his forthcoming book The Room Where It Happened that Trump ordered Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to clamp down on the trading and selling of the cryptocurrency, believing it to be fraudulent. This conversation may have been the catalyst behind Mnuchin’s announcement earlier this year that cryptocurrencies would soon see “significant” regulatory changes.
Trump Administration Popped Bitcoin Bubble in 2017
According to the Washington Examiner, Trump ordered Mnuchin to take steps against Bitcoin in May 2018, five months after the cryptocurrency had created headlines around the world by racing to $20,000. The Trump administration helped pop the Bitcoin bubble by colluding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to introduce Bitcoin futures through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe), and it seems that Trump was not satisfied with that outcome alone.
Following the successful taming of the cryptocurrency market, Trump clearly wanted to go further, instructing Mnuchin to not be “a trade negotiator” but to go after Bitcoin, to which Mnuchin is said to have replied that “your economic team will execute whatever you want.”
FinCEN Carries Out Donald Trump’s Instructions
It seems that Mnuchin and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) have spent the last 18 months coming up with regulations to increase the transparency of cryptocurrency trading, which Mnuchin announced in February would improve transparency and prevent cryptocurrencies from being used as “secret bank accounts.”
Trump addressed the subject of Bitcoin directly for the first time in July 2019 when he Tweeted that he was “not a fan” of the unrelated financial system, which is now certainly borne out by his comments from 2018.
