Following the dominance of cryptocurrencies, governments are taking decisions of either launching a central bank digital currency (CBDCs) or regulating cryptocurrencies, which are already in wide circulation.
On Tuesday, the CEO of Tesla and Space X Elon Musk said that the US government should desist from regulating cryptocurrencies in the country. “It is not possible to, I think, destroy crypto, but it is possible for governments to slow down its advancement”, he said while speaking at the Code Conference that took place in Beverly Hills, California. His comment came in response to Kara Swisher’s question about if the US government should be involved in regulating cryptocurrencies. The Tesla boss made the comment in response to the New York Times columnist’s question. “I would say, Do nothing”, the tech magnate said.
Elon Musk is a big supporter of cryptocurrencies and even integrated flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin into his business operations. His electric vehicle company Tesla bought Bitcoin worth $1.5 billion earlier this year and started accepting the currency as a means of payment before putting an end to that because of environmental concerns. Elon Musk believes that cryptocurrencies are an important part of any financial setup. He believes that cryptocurrency has the potentials of reducing problems that arise from errors and latency on the part of existing financial systems. Irrespective of his huge belief in cryptocurrencies, he acknowledges the fact that cryptocurrencies are not a panacea to society’s problems. “I wouldn’t say that I’m a massive cryptocurrency expert. I think there’s some value in cryptocurrency, but I wouldn’t say it’s the second coming of the Messiah”. He also spoke about China’s recent actions against crypto mining and regulation. He acknowledges the fact that the actions against cryptocurrency mining and other operations were a result of the country’s challenges in generating electricity. “Part of it may actually be due to electricity shortages in many parts of China. A lot of South China right now is having random power outages, because the power demand is higher than expected. Crypto mining might be playing a role in that”.
On the other hand, it might just be that the Chinese government does not like the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies hence the actions against cryptocurrency-related operations. “I suppose cryptocurrency is fundamentally aimed at reducing the power of a centralized government. They don’t like that”, he concluded.
