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Former presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, has said that cryptocurrencies are “very interesting and exotic,” but they have the potential to undermine the U.S. Dollar.
“What looks like a very interesting and exotic effort...has the potential for undermining currencies, for undermining the role of the dollars as reserve currencies, for destabilizing nations,” Clinton said at Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum.
She added that—if in the hands of the wrong people—cryptocurrencies could be direct threats to nation-states.
“There’s a whole new layer of activity that could be extremely destabilizing or, in the wrong hands or in alliances with the wrong people, could be direct threats to many of our nation-states and certainly to the global currency markets,” she added.
With that, Clinton is broadly on the same page as President Biden, whose actions have demonstrated he is serious about the national security risks presented by cryptocurrencies.
The former presidential candidate also appears to share some common ground on this issue with former President Donald Trump, who said that Bitcoin “seems like a scam,” and that “it’s another currency competing against the dollar.”
Crypto, the dollar, and national security
Throughout 2021, President Biden has preceded Hillary Clinton’s comments by emphasizing the national security risks associated with cryptocurrencies.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would elevate ransomware to a similar priority level as terrorism, amid recent high-profile ransomware attacks including the Colonial Pipeline and JBS attacks.
In the summer, President Biden also set up a ransomware task force, with the express purpose of combating cyberattacks and tracing cryptocurrency ransom payments.
Concerns over cryptocurrencies and national security are well justified, considering the plethora of evidence that has demonstrated how bad actors can use the technology.
Earlier this year, Hamas admitted to a spike in Bitcoin donations following renewed conflict with Israel. Elsewhere, Andrew Anglin—the founder of a neo-Nazi website—was found to have received almost $5 million dollars worth of Bitcoin since January 2017.
Russian intelligence backed companies have also been found to have been using cryptocurrencies to meddle in American presidential elections.