on the crypto
President Donald Trump had ordered Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to focus on a crackdown on bitcoin during a negotiation on trade with China, according to former national security adviser John Bolton reported in his forthcoming book.
A private conversation between Trump and Mnuchin reported in the new book of a former US state official
In a brief exchange discussing the imposition of sanctions and taxes with China, Trump allegedly told Mnuchin: "Do not be a commercial negotiator", ordering him instead of: "Stay behind bitcoin [for fraud]". "If you don't want to negotiate, okay, your business team will do what you say," Mnuchin replied.
In other words, Trump ordered Mnuchin to investigate Bitcoin by attempting to delegitimize it with evidence of wrongdoing or fraud within the network. The conversation comes from an excerpt from Bolton's new book, obtained from the Washington Examiner. Predictably, the book has already raised several controversies. For the moment, neither Trump nor others on his staff have spoken out on the matter.
The order given in a golden moment of Bitcoin
The exchange was said to have occurred in May 2018, during the period when investors were very positive about bitcoin after it had risen by 33% against the dollar - here you can find its quotation in real time. It is not clear from the extract what specifically led Trump to order Mnuchin to crack down on bitcoins and whether the two men had already talked about cryptocurrencies.
At the time, there had also been a lot of speculation about what US regulators would do on cryptocurrency. At that time, industry figures called for greater clarity from regulators.
The representatives of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had declared that they wanted to avoid hindering innovation.
Trump: "Cryptocurrencies are value based on nothing"
Trump made his thoughts on bitcoin abundantly clear last summer. "I'm not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money and whose value is highly volatile and based on nothing," he tweeted.
"Unregulated cryptographic activities can facilitate illegal behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activities ..." But Mnuchin, one of the longest-serving members of the Trump administration, has taken a more measured approach. He may not have plans to purchase bitcoins but he has no problem with digital asset initiatives such as the Libra project, provided they adhere to U.S. regulations.
Bolton's book, "The Room Where It Happened", will be published on June 23rd. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Bolton and urged the court to suspend the release claiming it contains confidential information.
