Love him or hate him, when Senator Ted Cruz is right, he’s right. And the Republican senator just perfectly explained why authoritarians hate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Governments around the world, and even Democratic politicians here in the US, have attempted to heavily tax, regulate, or even ban cryptocurrency. “Crypto,” as it’s often called, simply refers to decentralized digital currency, with Bitcoin being the most famous type of cryptocurrency.
As Cruz explained on the Verdict podcast with Michael Knowles, the very thing that makes cryptocurrency distinct from traditional currency is exactly what makes it so threatening to authoritarian politicians: its decentralization.
There is no Bitcoin HQ, for example. There is no company in charge of Bitcoin at all.
The currency is completely decentralized through a complicated system known as a blockchain. But the important thing to understand is that no one person or group can control Bitcoin. No centralized power can “inflate” Bitcoin by increasing its supply above the prescheduled course it is on.
No centralized power can control its valuation, restrict its use, and so on. And that’s why authoritarians can’t stand it.
Why does Elizabeth Warren hate Bitcoin?
For the same reason that Xi and China hates Bitcoin: Neither one of them can control it. #Verdict https://t.co/2hO1B8SF2B pic.twitter.com/9otP8WFPnW
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 13, 2022
“Authoritarians hate Bitcoin and hate crypto… for the same reason… they hate Joe Rogan,” Cruz said. “They can’t control him. He’s not subject to their authoritarian power.”
“They can’t control it,” he continued. “It is a system of currency outside of the monopoly control of the US government.”
“And by the way, that’s a pattern of authoritarians,” Cruz added. “Communist China outlawed Bitcoin for the same reason. Why does Elizabeth Warren hate Bitcoin? For the same reason that Xi Jinping in China hates Bitcoin, because neither one of them can control it.”
“The theme through all of this is the power of freedom to be not subject to the arbitrary whims of those in government power,” Cruz concluded.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies give us a way to “opt-out” of government control. And as Ted Cruz just explained, that’s exactly why would-be authoritarians across the globe simply can’t stand crypto.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to remove an incorrect identification of Senator Cruz’s podcast, Verdict, as a Daily Wire production.
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