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Crypto’s unholy choir

Ever since Bitcoin was launched 16 years ago, crypto has been a solution in search of a problem. What is new is the chorus of deceivers, demagogues, dictators and tax dodgers trying to convince us otherwise

    • The claim that crypto will replace fiat currencies looks increasingly implausible, but that has not stopped boosters from touting other promises.
    • The claim that crypto will replace fiat currencies looks increasingly implausible, but that has not stopped boosters from touting other promises. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Published Sat, Jan 4, 2025 · 05:00 AM

    I WAS zonking out in front of the screen during a particularly tedious Zoom meeting when a statement of unmitigated gall woke me up: “Trump’s election is a dream come true,” the crypto captain told us, his face glowing with glee. I should not have been surprised: he happened to be sitting on a big pile of Bitcoin, which had appreciated nearly 40 per cent since Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris.

    Now, this crypto baron was not as pleased as is Marc Andreessen, Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalist and a particularly loud crypto booster. Because the Biden administration’s policies amounted to “repression”, for him Trump’s victory has “felt like a boot off the throat... Every morning I wake up happier than the day before.”

    These crypto bros would vigorously deny that they are just talking up their own book. The dream that is coming true – the liberation of the crypto industry from the shackles of excessive regulation – will supposedly allow humanity to flourish. That sounds great, except that regulation of crypto remains somewhere between light and non-existent, and crypto industry captains have yet to tell us what massive benefits await us.

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