On January 20, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, made an appearance on the Third Row Podcast. During the podcast, he discussed numerous topics, including Bitcoin and other crypto coins. Elon Musk has tweeted about Bitcoin numerous times and it was expected he would discuss the topic at some point during the podcast. .For instance, on January 10, he tweeted a cryptic tweet containing Bitcoin, which he never bothered to explain.
His Thoughts on Bitcoin
When asked about Bitcoin, Elon Musk said he had no firm stand when it came to crypto. He was then asked about his thoughts about the White Paper prepared by Satoshi Nakamoto. Musk said that he found it quite clever. According to Musk, the use of Bitcoin was in providing a bridge between illegal and legal transactions. AS a result, he thinks its true value is in facilitating banned transactions, which might be disappointing for some in the crypto world to hear. Musk does not appear to be a fan of using crypto as a store of value.
Crypto for Censorship Resistance
According to Musk, crypto was used for purposes where the law forbade certain transactions in certain jurisdictions. He was then asked to clarify whether he was referring to darknet activities. Musk responded that it could not be entirely for illegal activities. This was because people would still need to use their crypto to buy ordinary stuff. While Musk sees Bitcoin as being able to resist censorship by the authorities, he thinks that there is a need to create a bridge between the black market driven by crypto and the legal market. It is worth noting that last week, a new Bill was introduced before Congress. The bill seeks to make it easier to spend crypto without worrying about making complex crypto calculations.
The Role of Bitcoin as a Global Financial Database
Musk noted that Bitcoin had a lot of utility with censorship resistance. However, he does not believe that it could become the primary financial database of the world. In other words, he does not think crypto is going to be a global reserve currency. However, he does believe that crypto could be an effective replacement for cash.
He is not taking the Moral High Ground
In his closing comments on the issue of crypto and the blockchain, Musk reiterated that he was not morally objecting to crypto. He said that his thoughts on crypto had led some to believe that he was judging the crypto industry. However, he said that while he said crypto could be used to facilitate illegal transactions, it was in the context of illegal activities that should not be illegal. He gave an example of governments that have too many laws that make things, which should be legal illegal.
As a result, it appears Musk believes there are places BTC has real use cases, especially regions with oppressive regimes here laws are restrictive. This is exactly why BTC was created; to eliminate centralized control. It is great to see the CEO of the second-largest carmaker by market cap, acknowledge this fact.
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