In a recent interview On the Coin Stories podcast hosted by Natalie Brunell, US presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy discussed his views on bitcoin, why the government should leave bitcoin alone, and BlackRock’s bitcoin Spot ETF.
The presidential candidate said that bitcoin “is an option to get out of the broken financial architecture created by the United States Federal Reserve system. And I say this as someone who wants to fight for the dollar to remain the world’s reserve currency.” .
During the interview, Ramaswamy stated that the government perceives bitcoin as a potential threat to its control over monetary policy. “Part of this is that they are threatened by the existence of bitcoin. They don’t want people to mine more bitcoins, because that could make bitcoin more popular. Which in turn, creates a threat to the current state of the US federal government.” .US Reserve itself,” he stated.
He argued that the decentralized nature of bitcoin challenges the traditional power dynamics of centralized financial systems, causing unrest among government institutions. The presidential candidate says that “he will be by far the most bitcoin or crypto president or any decentralized finance president we’ve ever had,” because he believes “it’s good to decentralize the power of the federal government.”
He also addressed concerns around BlackRock’s bitcoin Spot ETF, stating that BlackRock is “a tentacle of the government.” He says the money they manage comes from government actors who pressure them to adopt agendas, and that it is a “farce” to think BlackRock is applying for this ETF in a free-market manner. Ramaswamy said it’s “the government trying to pose as friendly to bitcoin, but in reality it’s just a captured system.”
As the 2024 presidential race approaches, Ramaswamy’s stance on emerging financial technologies like bitcoin could become an even bigger focal point of his campaign. Earlier this year, Ramaswamy Announced at bitcoin 2023 in Miami that had begun accepting campaign donations in bitcoin via the Lightning Network, making him one of the first US presidential candidates to do so.