Bitcoin Rushes Past $10,000 as US Lawmaker Says Bitcoin ”Can’t Be Killed”
The price of Bitcoin has now once again crossed the psychologically important $10,000 line. This comes after Bitcoin recently fell below it. However, some suspect that Bitcoin’s recent rise is linked to positive comments by a US Representative.
Bitcoin has risen above the $10,000 line
Bitcoin has had a hectic week. First and foremost, both United States President Donald Trump and United States Treasure Secretary Steven Mnuchin launched attacks against the currency. Following this, Washington D.C. became temporarily preoccupied with cryptocurrency – as Facebook’s crypto Libra made rounds in the US Congress.
Furthermore, the premier cryptocurrency fell below $10,000 earlier this week. Some attribute this correction to mounting regulatory uncertainty regarding Bitcoin and other cryptos. Now, Bitcoin has once again rushed past the $10,000 line, trading at $10,543 at the time of writing.
Although Libra appears to be prompting lawmakers to push ahead with creating crypto regulations, not all crypto supporters are a fan of this.
For example, Blockstream’s Chief Strategy Officer, Samson Mow, has said that Facebook should have gone a different route. Specifically, Mow notes that Facebook could instead introduce a Bitcoin service – instead of creating Libra, a separate cryptocurrency. Mow puts it like this:
“Once Libra is compliant with every jurisdiction, it will just be a more complex PayPal governed by an association. Should’ve just used Bitcoin.”
Lawmaker says that there is “no capacity to kill Bitcoin”
Others are more bullish on Bitcoin’s long-term prospects, however. The US Representative Patrick McHenry recently spoke on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” segment. In it, he floated the notion that Bitcoin cannot, at this time, be killed.Specifically, this came in response to a question regarding whether McHenry believes that politicians will allow cryptocurrencies to grow in adoption and popularity. Nonetheless, McHenry responded by implying no government could “kill” Bitcoin as this point.
“I think there’s no capacity to kill Bitcoin. Even the Chinese, with their firewall and their extreme intervention in their society could not kill Bitcoin.”
Furthermore, McHenry went on to illustrate how more recent startups are now trying to mimic Bitcoin’s success. However, McHenry also indicated that replicating the success of this premier cryptocurrency’s open-access and decentralized network is harder than it looks.
He further drove this point home with another comment, stating that “the essence of Bitcoin is what Libra and Facebook, and corporates are trying to mimic”. That a lawmaker admits that Bitcoin is now essentially impossible to kill is a notable step towards broader regulatory acceptance of cryptocurrencies.
Source: TOSHI TIMES
BY RASMUS PIHL
