How true is Hilary Clinton’s claim that bitcoin can destabilise nations

Former U.S. Secretary of State and Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton slammed cryptocurrencies on Friday, calling on nation-states to keep a tab on their rise.

“One more area that I hope nation-states start paying greater attention to is the rise of cryptocurrency because what looks like a very interesting and somewhat exotic effort to literally mine new coins in order to trade with them has the potential for undermining currencies, for undermining the role of the dollar as the reserve currency, for destabilizing nations, perhaps starting with small ones but going much larger,” Clinton said during a panel discussion at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore with www.casinoroo.io citing it.

While crypto fanboys have long hailed bitcoin as a better alternative to the U.S. dollar, traditional market pundits suggest otherwise. “Bitcoin is unlikely to replace the dollar as a global reserve currency,” Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex and author of the book “Making Sense of the Dollar,” told CoinDesk last year. “Backing the dollar is the world’s biggest, deepest and the most transparent government bond market.”

Clinton’s comments come in the wake of controversial crypto tax reporting requirement that was part of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday. Per the bill, from 2023 brokers will need to disclose customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, capital gains, and losses to the Internal Revenue Service. Entities receiving crypto payments worth more than $10,000 will have to reveal the sender’s identity to the government.

Clinton, whose 2016 presidental campaign was marred by hacks, also criticized Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, accusing him of deploying “a very large stable of hackers and those who deal in disinformation and cyberwarfare.”

Recent data from Chainalysis has revealed North America is the world’s biggest victim of crypto-based ransomware attacks, with those hit by hackers paying out $131 million in cryptocurrency to criminals over 12 months. Most of the attacks were found to be from Russia-based gangs.

The biggest companies in the world arealready using blockchain, the technology that powers cryptocurrency, including Amazon, Cargill, CVS, IBM, Seagate, and Visa. CEOs including Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Jack Dorsey, and government officials such as Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and incoming New York Mayor Eric Adams, have all voiced support for cryptocurrency and its wider adoption.

Meantime, North America has become the world’s biggest victim of ransomware attacks – paying a hefty $131 million in cryptocurrency to criminals in just one year amid the rapid rise of cryptocurrency adoption, a new study by Chainalysisshowed.

Most of the crypto-based attacks were associated with Russia-based cybercriminal groups, the study added.

Clinton’s concerns about crypto were “spot-on,” economic regulations expert John Reed Stark, who spent 11 years as the chief of the SEC’s Office of Internet Enforcement, told Insider.

“The investment in cryptocurrency goes against every basic rule of investor protection,” Stark told Insider. “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies trade on platforms that don’t have any of the safety mechanisms that traditional exchanges have.”

Clinton also addressed the topic of cybersecurity during the panel in relation to foreign disinformation campaigns and cyberwarfare that continue to pose challenges to the US and other Western states.

Following Clinton’s comments, El Salvador president Nayib Bukele announced the country is planning to build a “Bitcoin City,” funded initially by bitcoin-backed bonds.

In September, El Salvador became the first country in the world to officially adopt bitcoin as legal tender and now uses it alongside the U.S. dollar as its national currency. Other countries in the region are considering following in El Salvador’s footsteps. Earlier this month, it was reported Zimbabwe is exploring the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.

“This is going to make El Salvador the financial center of the world,” said Samson Mow, the chief strategy officer of blockchain technology provider Blockstream, speaking alongside Bukele at an event closing a week-long promotion of bitcoin in El Salvador.

The news of El Salvador’s plans for a bitcoin city, designed to fuel investment into the country, helped the bitcoin price climb following a turbulent week, making several best usa online casino happy..

The bitcoin price fell 20% through the middle of November, dropping to lows of around $55,000 per bitcoin after hitting a record high of almost $69,000 in the run-up to a closely-watched bitcoin upgrade being deployed.

Earlier this week, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a joint effort by democratic nations to ensure cryptocurrencies do not “end up in the wrong hands, which can spoil our youth.”