Larry Summers is a former US Department of Treasury Secretary. Furthermore, he is a former Treasury Secretary who happens to get a real kick out of bitcoin.
For all of us, digital currency enthusiasts who just want everyone to get along, it’s always nice when a politician or banking official of some sort shows their support and respect for bitcoin. After all, we’re so used to witnessing the opposite that sometimes it can put a real damper on our outlook on life in the virtual economy.
As refreshing as his stance may be, however, Mr. Summers is acknowledging the fact that bitcoin cannot simply succeed on its own, and there is a lot, particularly regulation, that needs to be taken into consideration if bitcoin is going to have a successful run in the near future.
Larry Summers currently swears by heavy regulation of cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency businesses, and feels that without it, bitcoin simply has no place in the financial spectrum.
He says:
“If the day ever comes where bitcoin counts for an appreciable fraction of commerce that takes place in the world economy, on that day it will be because that commerce is regulated and subject to safeguards and people believe that something other than a mathematical algorithm is ensuring that their money will not be stolen.”
Summers’ words were delivered on Wednesday, February 11th at the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street… Apparently, incidents such as the recent MyCoin scandal has everyone feeling nervous, but Summers sees bitcoin as a positive entity that could reduce costs and inefficiencies in the global payments arena. He is warning critics that they shouldn’t just “write” bitcoin off:
“Very serious economists thought that the Internet was going to be no more serious than the fax machine, so I’m not willing to dismiss bitcoin.”
