Mnuchin, in an interview with CNBC, said the following about Bitcoin:
“I won’t be talking about Bitcoin in 10 years, I can assure you that […] I would bet even in 5 or 6 years I’m no longer talking about Bitcoin as Treasury Secretary. I’ll have other priorities […] I can assure you I will personally not be loaded up on Bitcoin.”
Mnuchin’s latest comments pursue a recent claim about how cryptocurrencies mainly operate as a tool for fraud and speculative investment, stating, “I believe to a large extent, these cryptocurrencies were dominated by unlawful operations and conjecture.”
However, CEO and founder of the Digital Currency Group Barry Silbert opined that the comments of the Treasury Secretary were were “complete and total validation of Bitcoin.”
Recently, Mnuchin also argued that that fiat money is relatively little used for money laundering compared to Bitcoin. In another interview with CNBC, Mnuchin said that the US has the world’s robust anti-money laundering system.
On the contrary, he thinks that Bitcoin is susceptible to money laundering. Economist and anti-cryptocurrency advocate Nouriel Roubini lately published a highly critical essay of the BitMEX crypto exchange, suggesting that the exchange launders cash for insurgents and criminals deliberately:
“BitMEX insiders revealed to me that this exchange is also used daily for money laundering on a massive scale by terrorists and other criminals from Russia, Iran, and elsewhere; the exchange does nothing to stop this, as it profits from these transactions.”