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““Well, I’ve started to question now whether or not cryptocurrency could actually become the reserve currency of the world as more and more people lose confidence in government.””
That was Sen. Rand Paul during a recent interview with Axios discussing the future of cryptocurrency in the U.S.
The Republican from Kentucky cited a lack of trust in government for the reason more people may turn to cryptocurrency, which is not an official U.S. currency.
Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
ethereum
ETHUSD,
and other cryptocurrencies are not regulated by the U.S. government and unlike the dollar
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are not backed by the U.S. central bank.
It’s not clear if there is a connection between Americans’ trust in government and their interest in cryptocurrency, as Paul claims, but views of local and state government are near record lows, according to a recent Gallup survey. And only 39% of people trust the federal government, according to the same survey.
This is not the first time Paul has touted cryptocurrency — during his bid for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, Paul’s campaign accepted donations in bitcoin, in addition to donations in U.S. dollars.
In 2014, Paul said he would be more bullish on crypto if it was backed by stocks.
As crypto trading becomes more popular, companies are trying to capitalize on its interest — Walmart
WMT,
has begun allowing shoppers to buy bitcoin at in-person kiosks, and Mastercard
MA,
is set to announce bitcoin applications for banks and merchants, including wallets and bitcoin credit cards.
Bitcoin prices reached nearly $67,000 last week, a new high. The record came a day after the debut of the first bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF
BITO,
Earlier in 2021, El Salvador became the first nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal currency — El Salvador also uses the U.S. dollar as legal tender.
