Upcoming John Bolton book showcases Trump’s distaste for bitcoin

Bob
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Posted on: June 18, 2020 8:30 pm EDT

According to John Bolton’s upcoming book, The Room Where It Happened, President Donald Trump is “not a fan” of bitcoin and other blockchain assets. Bolton alleges that in May 2018 the President instructed Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to “go after bitcoin.”

The book does not specify whether Trump and Mnuchin took any specific measures against Bitcoin, which at the time had fallen precipitously from its record-breaking highs in December of 2017.

President Donald Trump’s criticism of cryptocurrencies is well documented, although the revelations in Bolton’s book predate comments Trump has made on twitter and in other public spheres.

When Facebook first revealed its Libra cryptocurrency in the summer of 2019, Trump lashed out against the digital assets, claiming that Libra was “not money” and “highly volatile and based on thin air.” He went on to tweet, “Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”

The President remarked, “We have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever, both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency anywhere in the world, and it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!”

Steven Mnuchin echoed Trump’s sentiments during media appearances and press briefings. He said, “Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, have been exploited to support billions of dollars of illicit activity like cybercrime, tax evasion, extortion, ransomware, illicit drugs, human trafficking. Many players have attempted to use cryptocurrencies to fund their malign behavior. This is indeed a national security issue.”

During a CNBC Interview on July 14, 2019, Mnuchin compelled Facebook to following US banking laws. “We like payment systems that reduce costs. But we don’t support unregulated bad actors using anything — any type of currency or cryptocurrency,” Mnuchin said.

The Room Where It Happened will be released on June 23, although the Justice Department is currently attempting to halt sales of the book as it claims it contains classified information. The book is currently Amazon’s #1 Seller.

More information about this book can be found at www.simonandschuster.com