Former national security advisor John Bolton has reportedly revealed in his upcoming book an instruction about bitcoin that
President Donald Trump gave to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The
U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Bolton to stop the
book’s release, claiming that it contains classified material.
Bolton Book: Trump Told Mnuchin to ‘Go After Bitcoin’
John
Bolton, a former national security advisor, has authored a book
entitled “The Room Where It Happened.” It is set to be published on June
23, but the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the author
on Tuesday, asking a judge to stop the book’s release, claiming that it
contains classified material.
In his book, Bolton described his
time in the Trump administration, including the president’s instruction
to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin regarding bitcoin, the Washington Examiner
reported Wednesday. The news outlet claims to have obtained a leaked
copy of the book.
“President Trump told Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin to clamp down on the trading and selling of the internet
currency bitcoin,” the publication conveyed, adding that Trump told
Mnuchin:
Go after bitcoin.
According
to Bolton’s book, the conversation happened in May 2018. Furthermore,
Trump allegedly said to Mnuchin during their discussion about trade
sanctions and tariffs against China, “Don’t be a trade negotiator.” The
Treasury Secretary responded, “If you don’t want me on trade, fine, your
economic team will execute whatever you want.”
Donald Trump allegedly told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to “go
after bitcoin,” according to a book authored by former national security
advisor John Bolton, obtained by the Washington Examiner. Trump is not a
fan of bitcoin or any cryptocurrencies. He tweeted last year that
bitcoin’s value is “based on thin air.”
instruction for Mnuchin to “go after bitcoin,” according to the former
national security advisor, predates the president’s infamous tweets in
July last year about the cryptocurrency. “I am not a fan of bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly
volatile and based on thin air,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Unregulated
crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and
other illegal activity.”
The president proceeded to talk about
Libra, the cryptocurrency project proposed by social media giant
Facebook. He said for Facebook or other companies to become a bank, they
must obtain a banking license and comply with banking regulations. “We
have only one real currency in the USA, and it is stronger than ever,
both dependable and reliable. It is by far the most dominant currency
anywhere in the World, and it will always stay that way. It is called
the United States dollar.”
Following
Trump’s tweets, Mnuchin announced: “We’re looking at all of the crypto
assets. We’re going to make sure we have a unified approach and my guess
is that there are going to be more regulations that come out from all
these agencies.”
In February, Mnuchin revealed that the Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) would soon roll out “significant new
requirements” for crypto service providers. He added: “We want to make
sure that technology moves forward, but on the other hand, we want to
make sure that cryptocurrencies aren’t used for the equivalent of old
Swiss secret number bank accounts.”
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/trump-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-go-after-bitcoin-john-bolton/
