Ex-Goldman CEO Blankfein Says Governments Would Likely Try to Shut Down Bitcoin if It Becomes Too Successful
Blankfein misrepresented bitcoin's traceability and falsely claimed users are blind to their counter-parties.
Jan 26, 2021 at 8:21 p.m. UTCUpdated Aug 19, 2021 at 6:50 a.m. UTC
:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindeskuat/CVBIYM7VI5EYTJLQ6RUBKARG3U.png)
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein pooh-poohed bitcoin's "store of value" and "medium of exchange" propositions on CNBC Monday, stressing that if the cryptocurrency ever grew to a substantial size the regulators would likely move to shut it down.
- "If I were a regulator, I'd be, you know, I would be kind of hyperventilating at the success of [bitcoin] at the moment and I'd be arming myself to deal with it," Blankfein said.
- The finance executive asserted that bitcoin users have no way of knowing if enemy states like North Korea and Iran are counter-parties to their transactions. He then seemingly implied there's no way to monitor bitcoin transactions, ignoring entirely the cryptocurrency's inherent traceability.
- Bitcoin's success at weathering the regulator's impending storm could serve to undermine its most appealing attributes, Blankfein said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
13:18
Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
05:10
Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
04:07
The first video of the year 2024
40:07
The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
:format(webp)/downloads.coindesk.com/arc/failsafe/user/1x1.png)