Terrific AFR article in the Chanticleer column just now - very...

Terrific AFR article in the Chanticleer column just now - very critical of Trumps crypto strategic reserve just now - great quotes from it below. The best quote is the one about being a transfer from the US taxpayer to a relatively small group of asset owners ie Trump's billionaire crypto mates. I happen to agree with everything in the article.

“ Great news for the crypto bros, but the rest of the world should despair at another example of grift from Trump.”

“ Yes, his high-profile supporters will do well. For example, Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks remains a partner at venture capital firm Craft Ventures, which is an investor in a crypto fund called Bitwise.”

“The US government may be mired in debt and desperately trying to cut spending, but it wants to use taxpayer dollars to buy cryptocurrencies.”

“But when a government buys crypto it risks creating a transfer of wealth from the US taxpayer to a relatively small group of asset owners, some of whom are big supporters of the president.“

“ But what does the taxpayer get out of this? What is strategic about the US government owning crypto?”

“The idea that bitcoin can act as a hedge against inflation as a sort of digital gold remains under heavy debate, but coins such as solana, XRP and ADA are little more than unproven digital start-ups.”

“As notoriously bearish investor Jeremy Grantham said of the crypto industry in a podcast over the weekend: “None of them produce anything, and none of them are a medium of exchange, materially, but they are a wonderful speculative medium.”

“And for what? To reduce the national debt? That only works if crypto prices go up. To hedge against economic certainty? That only works if you’re certain crypto won’t move broadly in the same direction as other risk assets. To prepare against some future calamity? This is not a strategic reserve of oil or grain, but of a commodity that lacks intrinsic value.”