Co-founder of the decentralized blockchain and development platform Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has issued stern a warning against choosing a candidate purely based on whether they claim to be “pro-crypto”.
Vitalik in a blog post titled “Against choosing your political allegiances based on who is “pro-crypto”, stated that over the years crypto has become an important topic in the political sphere, noting that many governments have rolled out reasonable bills in support of the digital currency, although there are still underlying fears that they will attempt to take extreme steps in the near future.
He wrote,
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“Over the last couple of years, crypto has become an increasingly important topic in political policy, with various jurisdictions considering bills that regulate various actors doing blockchain things in various ways. This includes the Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA) in the EU, efforts to regulate stablecoins in the UK, and the complicated mix of legislation and attempted regulation-by-enforcement from the SEC that we have seen in the United States.
“Many of these bills are, in my view, mostly reasonable, though there are fears that governments will attempt extreme steps like treating almost all coins as securities or bargaining self-hosted wallets. In the wake of these fears, there is a growing push within the crypto space to become more politically active, and favor political parties and candidates almost entirely on whether or not they are willing to be lenient and friendly to crypto.
“But if I care about crypto because it’s good for internationalism, then I should also judge politicians by how much they and their policies show care for the outside world. I will not name specific examples, but it should be clear that many of them fail on this metric.”
He further noted that if one notices a politician being crypto-friendly, one thing they can do is look up their views on crypto five years ago. Similarly, he urged to check up their views on related topics such as encrypted messaging five years ago.
“Particularly, try to find a topic where supporting freedom is unaligned with supporting corporations, the copyright wars of the 2000s are a good example of this. This can be a good guide on what kinds of changes to their views might happen five years in the future”, he added.
Vitalik also revealed that there is a particular style of being crypto-friendly that has become common to authoritarian governments, which he says is worth being wary of. Using Russia as an example, he said the recent Russian government policy regarding crypto is pretty simple and has two prongs which are;
1. When we use crypto, that helps us avoid other people’s restrictions, so that’s good.
2. When you use crypto, that makes it harder for us to restrict or surveil you or put you in jail for 9 years for donating $30 to Ukraine, so that’s bad.
He further concluded by highlighting another crucial point that one should watch out for if a politician is pro-crypto today, but is the type of person that is either very power-seeking or willing to suck up to someone who is. He noted that that is a pointer to the direction that their crypto advocacy may look like ten years from now.
“If a politician is pro-crypto, the key question to ask is: are they in it for the right reasons? Do they have a vision of how technology politics and the economy should go in the 21st century that aligns with yours? Do they have a good positive vision, that goes beyond near-term concerns like “smash the bad other tribe”? If they do, then great: you should support them, and make clear that that’s why you are supporting them. If not, then either stay out entirely or find better forces to align with”, he concludes.
Vitalik’s comment on urging for a proper scrutinization of choosing pro-Crypto politicians broader policy is coming after former US president and current Republican party aspirant, Donald Trump picked pro-Crypto candidate JD Vance as running mate.
Meanwhile, about five years ago, Trump had starkly opposed decentralized tokens five years ago. In a post made on X (formerly Twitter) in July 2019, Trump said he is not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies.
He wrote,
“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. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”
Fast forward to May 2024, Trump completed a total flip-flop on his stance regarding cryptocurrencies, becoming the first major presidential candidate to accept Bitcoin donations. Notably, this sharp change in policy stance has appeased many crypto supporters, which could be a crucial deciding factor for his victory in the election in November this year.
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