The structural integrity of his brain might be questionable, but if anyone can spot a scam, its former President Donald Trump, whose business history is riddled with complaints of unpaid bills and shady financial dealings. On Monday, in an interview with Fox Business, Trump denounced Bitcoin, the volatile digital currency. Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam, said Trump. I dont like it because its another currency competing against the dollar. (Trump added, strangely for a supposed billionaire, that he was not invested in the stock market at the moment.)

Cue the obligatory Onion article: The worst person you know just made a great point. Trump hit on something that even Bitcoin critics sometimes overlook. Bitcoins status as a stateless, nonsovereign currency is, to its adherents, an obvious benefit. It frees them, in their view, from the shackles of fiat currency, which is run by tyrannical central banks that print currency out of thin air. For committed coiners, there are a range of other benefits, but this sense of independence from the state itself is key. For critics, though, its a quick road to feudalism, to a speculative market dominated by the biggest bag holders and those who operate cryptocurrency exchanges and other intermediaries. Rather than promoting economic liberty by being a stateless currency, Bitcoin provides entre to a wildcat market dominated by fraudsters, scammers, and powerful institutional investors. Theres a reason why Trump said what he did: He recognized his milieu.

In the ideologically tinged Bitcoin battle, one need not be either a fanatical coiner or a fiat nut. Nor does one have to abide by Trumps jingoistic economic policy to understand that a currency backed by the state carries certain benefits, and an inherent stability, that will never be found in a volatile digital currency invented by a still unknown creator, which is backed by nothing more than code and the faith of its holders. With its dramatic swings in recent weeks, Bitcoin has, yet again, proved its unfitness as a currency and its continued resemblance to something more like a wildly manipulative multilevel marketing scheme.

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Bitcoin is Ripe for Scams. Even Donald Trump Can See That. - The New Republic