Bitcoin stopping Joe Biden from ‘full blown socialism’ as cryptocurrency’s power laid bare | City & Business | Finance

Bitcoin‘s presence has reemerged in recent weeks after the currency’s value reached an unprecedented high of $41,000 (£30,000) on January 7, before enduring its worst decline in 10 months days later. It constantly splits opinion with economists, as some argue Bitcoin’s volatile nature makes it uninvestable, while others say it is the future of world currency. Yet, despite enjoying such lucrative gains, and costly losses, iconic Wall Street economist Burton Malkiel claimed that Bitcoin uses a huge amount of energy to be created.

Mr Biden made it his presidential pledge to ensure the US does its bit to help turn the tide on climate change, which could halt Bitcoin’s progress if policies impose restrictions on energy usage.

And Ms Seibt – dubbed the anti-Greta Thunberg of climate change, outlined how Mr Biden’s pledge on green spending would “destabilise the US”, with Bitcoin now the only thing standing in the way of socialism.

She argued that the reported $2trillion (£1.46trillion) spending on his Green New Deal would also hit citizens hard in the wallet.

Ms Seibt said: “Biden is desperate for any means to finance his ridiculous spending plans.

“The Green New Deal is made up of empty promises with no actual benefit for the planet or the people and it will further destabilise the fragile economy.

“With no financial freedom left, people are easily controllable. But Bitcoin is standing in the way between Biden and a centrally planned economy – full-blown socialism!”

She added: “Biden is not going to be able to shut down Bitcoin, because the revolutionary alternative to paper currency has a life of its own at this point.

“He cannot remove value from the concept of Bitcoin, he cannot sabotage it via inflation – that built-in safety mechanism against governmental interference is the very essence of cryptocurrency.

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“That’s what makes it the currency of the people and will lead us to economic freedom.”

Mr Biden has already stood firm on his promises, and recently made the US rejoin the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, a pact to ensure global heating is limited to below 2C.

The concerns of Bitcoin’s energy output were raised by Mr Malkiel, who also argued that other factors could see the cryptocurrency’s demise.

He wrote in the newest edition of A Random Walk Down Wall Street how the US government “can be expected to crack down on the use of Bitcoin” due to “illegal transactions”.

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He cited US President Franklin D Roosevelt who made it illegal for citizens to “hold gold” in 1933, as “all governments have been particular about their right to issue and control currencies”.

The icon also argued that because Bitcoin can use huge amounts of energy, the desire from within the White House could lead to even heavier policing.

Mr Malkiel added: “Since Bitcoin mining operations use considerable computer power and are energy-intensive, restrictions can be imposed on the computers that run the public distributed ledger central to the transactions network.”

Mr Biden’s campaign pledge is one of the boldest in the US’ history, and also aims to create carbon-free electricity by 2035.

During his race to the White House, Mr Biden – along with now-Vice President Kamala Harris – viciously attacked critics of climate change, claiming it was an “existential threat” to the planet.

While addressing the California wildfires in September, Mr Biden branded them the “undeniable, accelerating, and punishing reality of climate change and its impact on our planet and our people — on lives and livelihoods”.

Despite some concerns with financial insiders, including those in Wall Street, the currency has been tipped to smash through $500,000 (£367,000) soon by Gemini crypto exchange founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.

The twins explained that $500,000 was a “pretty conservative estimate and the game hasn’t even really started”.

Cameron said that the likes of MicroStrategy and other firms buying “significant amounts of Bitcoins” for their treasury reserves showed that investors were now ready to make their moves.

Speaking on the What Bitcoin Did podcast last year, Cameron added: “What if every Fortune 100 or 500 company does that, what if central banks start doing that?�

“It hasn’t even started.”

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued its own warnings over the currency.

It said: “If consumers invest, they should be prepared to lose all their money.

“Some investments advertising high returns from crypto assets may not be subject to regulation beyond anti-money laundering.

“Significant price volatility, combined with the difficulties valuing [Bitcoin] reliably, place consumers at a high risk of losses.�

Express.co.uk does not give financial advice. The journalists who worked on this article do not own Bitcoin.