Is It a Good Idea for the US Government to Stockpile Bitcoin?

Presidential candidates Donald Trump and RFK Jr., as well as Senator Cynthia Lummis, have proposed the U.S. establish a strategic bitcoin reserve. George Selgin of the Cato Institute unpacks their various proposals.

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In this episode, George Selgin, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, discusses the recent proposals by Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Senator Cynthia Lummis for the U.S. government to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve. George provides his insights into the differences between these proposals, their potential implications, and why he believes the government should not be investing in bitcoin or other assets.

Show highlights:

How the Bitcoin proposals by Trump, RFK Jr., and Lummis differ
Why George believes that Trump’s proposal to not sell the government’s bitcoin is just symbolic
What the purpose of acquiring BTC is in the Lummis and RFK proposals
Whether the government should even be investing in bitcoin or other assets
How would the government buy BTC as per the Lummis bill
How likely is it that the bill passes through Congress

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Guest

George Selgin, Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus of the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives

Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk.

HOST

Laura Shin

Laura Shin is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (Public Affairs, 2022). Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 15 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum.

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors from Stanford University and has a master of arts from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She lives in New York City.

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