Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader, recently spoke about Bitcoin during an interview with CNBC. McCarthy is the Republican leader in the US House of Representatives and serves California’s 23rd district.
McCarthy has been asked if Janet Yellen (Treasury Secretary) and Jerome Powell (Federal Reserve Chairman) have a good understanding of digital currencies, taking into account their comments about Bitcoin, and if he has any advice for them.
The GOP leader is a longtime supporter of Bitcoin, declaring in 2019 “I like Bitcoin” and the security of the blockchain technology behind it. He made the same claim now and added “I was right then and I’m right now.”
“I think they tried to ignore it to make it go away. I think Jamie Dimon will tell you that from the beginning he was wrong. This is moving toward the future. They should not ignore it,” added McCarthy.
In 2017, Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan CEO, called Bitcoin a “fraud” that is “worse than tulip bulbs.” Things have changed, and now, the bank has high institutional demand for BTC and has even released a crypto investment product that tracks public companies with BTC exposure.
The previous week, Powell declared that crypto was a “vehicle for speculation” and that it was “not really being actively used as payment.” This contrasts with the increasing number of companies that have declared they’re now accepting crypto as payment.
In February, Yellen called Bitcoin a “highly speculative asset,” adding that it was not “widely used as a transmission mechanism” and that it was an “extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions.” She also declared that the illegal use of crypto was a growing problem.
Regarding these comments, McCarthy said that Yellen and Powell “should not only learn more about it but the basis is going to continue to grow. This is something that those who regulate, those who are in government that make policy better start understanding what it means for the future.”
McCarthy also pointed out the fact that “other countries are moving forward” when it comes to digital currencies: “I do not want America to fall behind. I want the next century to be ours. That’s why I want to look forward, not backward, and not keep my head in the sand.”