President Donald Trump shared on Sunday an old Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) explainer video by cryptocurrency advocate Peter Van Valkenburgh, describing it as the “greatest” of all time.
What Happened: Trump posted Van Valkenburgh’s October 2018 speech at the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Hearing via his Truth Social account.
In the video, Van Valkenburgh, Executive Director of cryptocurrency advocacy think tank Coin Center, described Bitcoin as a tool that allows people to send and receive value globally, without the need for a middleman.
“The lack of any corporation in between means that Bitcoin is the world's first public digital payments infrastructure,” he had said. “Bitcoin is the world's first globally accessible public money.”
Van Valkenburgh also outlined Bitcoin’s limitations, including its volatility and lack of mainstream use, but urged for their adoption to challenge the dominance of larger and more powerful corporate intermediaries.
See Also: The Trumps, Bitcoin Bull Run And Stablecoin Bill: This Week In Crypto
Why It Matters: Trump’s post and his recent actions demonstrated a strong support for Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency industry.
Earlier in March, he signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, funded by Bitcoin owned by the federal government obtained through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
That said, little has come from the executive side since the order was signed. In fact, confusion prevailed over reports that the government offloaded over 80% of its Bitcoin reserves
Last week, Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing the first regulatory framework and consumer safeguards for dollar-pegged stablecoins in the U.S.
Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $118,622.36, down 0.46% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Bitcoin has slid nearly 3% over the past week, while Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) has surged roughly 23%, Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) has jumped about 32%, and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) has climbed around 11%.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Image Credit: Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
