Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin and former US President Donald Trump have criticized cryptocurrencies as a threat to the US dollar.
Griffin, founder of the $38 billion hedge fund Citadel LLC, told the Economic Club of Chicago on October 4 that cryptocurrency is “a jihadist call that we don’t believe in dollars.” He expressed his displeasure with the younger generation’s work on alternatives to the dollar in the crypto sector:
“What a crazy concept that we as a country are embracing a lot of smart, young and talented people to come up with an alternative to our reserve currency.”
“I hope that all this passion and energy that went into cryptocurrency is directed toward making the United States stronger,” he added.
However, Griffin does not appear to be against making money from cryptocurrencies in the future. He said Citadel has not yet followed through on the rush to crypto by other hedge funds and traditional financial institutions due to a “lack of regulatory certainty.”
The hedge fund manager said US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has been “on the spot” in his comments since August, when he said that if crypto is to achieve its potential, it “needs to fit within public policy frameworks.”
“Doing so will make it a smaller market, because it will become a much more competitive market when there is regulatory clarity,” Griffin said. “And that would be fine. Small market, fewer people involved who are honestly trying to make a quick buck.”
Meanwhile, former US President Donald Trump has warned of the threat to the dollar from the Chinese digital yuan.
During an interview with Adam Shapiro of Yahoo Finance on October 5, Trump gave his opinion on China, the US economy, and the crypto sector.
Speaking about the Chinese government’s moves to ban cryptocurrencies in the country led by Xi Jinping, Trump said this campaign was part of Jinping’s moves to crush competition as he is working on his “own currency, cryptocurrency or otherwise”, and suggested that the government should The United States should do the same:
“I am a huge fan of our currency and I do not want other currencies to come out and harm or insult the dollar in any way.”
“If you look at a dollar-based monetary system, and if you start to lose credibility, you will suddenly lose this powerful monetary system,” Trump said. The controversial former president said the US government’s “show of terror” over the Mexican border and withdrawal from Afghanistan has also affected the credibility of the US currency.
Trump is also not a fan of cryptocurrency. In late August, he stated that cryptocurrency is “potentially a disaster waiting to happen” as he questioned whether the digital assets were “fake”:
“that they [cryptocurrencies] It may be fake. Who knows what they are? They are definitely something people don’t know much about.”
