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Ex-Goldman CEO Blankfein Says Governments Would Likely Try to Shut Down Bitcoin if It Becomes Too Successful
Blankfein misrepresented bitcoin's traceability and falsely claimed users are blind to their counter-parties.
By Danny Nelson
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 11:01 a.m. Published Jan 26, 2021, 8:21 p.m.
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein pooh-poohed bitcoin's "store of value" and "medium of exchange" propositions on CNBC Monday, stressing that if the cryptocurrency ever grew to a substantial size the regulators would likely move to shut it down.
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- "If I were a regulator, I'd be, you know, I would be kind of hyperventilating at the success of [bitcoin] at the moment and I'd be arming myself to deal with it," Blankfein said.
- The finance executive asserted that bitcoin users have no way of knowing if enemy states like North Korea and Iran are counter-parties to their transactions. He then seemingly implied there's no way to monitor bitcoin transactions, ignoring entirely the cryptocurrency's inherent traceability.
- Bitcoin's success at weathering the regulator's impending storm could serve to undermine its most appealing attributes, Blankfein said.
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