Bitcoin Helps Usd's Reserve Status ‘in A Strange Way’: Coinbase CEO

Bitcoin is helping reinforce the US dollar’s reserve currency status by acting as a market check on excessive inflation and deficit spending, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has claimed Bitcoin provides healthy competition for the US dollar, which in turn pressures policymakers to maintain fiscal discipline and helps preserve the US dollar’s dominance.

“[Bitcoin] provides a check and balance on the dollar in the sense of if there's too much deficit spending or inflation in the US, people will flee to Bitcoin in times of uncertainty,” Armstrong argued in an interview on Tetragrammation with Rick Rubin on Thursday.

“It might be okay to have 2-3% inflation if the economy is growing at 2-3% but if inflation outstrips the growth of the economy, you'll eventually lose the reserve currency status, and that would be a massive blow to the United States.”

He said that Bitcoin (BTC) indirectly keeps the dollar in check by ensuring the Federal Reserve and financial regulators avoid actions that could undermine confidence in the US economy, he claimed.

“So I actually think in a strange way, Bitcoin is helping extend the American experiment,” the Coinbase boss concluded.

Bitcoin is good for USD.It creates competition in a way that’s healthy for the dollar, which helps to provide a check and balance against high inflation and deficit spending. pic.twitter.com/iHjQCJVqCb

US national debt has boomed to $37.65 trillion, and is now rising by $70,843 per second — or nearly $4.25 million per minute — according to the US Congress Joint Economic Committee’s debt dashboard.

In early October, JPMorgan touted Bitcoin and gold as the “debasement trade” amid increased uncertainty in the dollar.

Bitcoin soared to a $126,080 high on Oct. 10 but has since retraced 30% to $88,210, but gold has continued its tear, setting its latest high of $4,545 per ounce on Friday.

Source: CoinTelegraph