In a surprise move, Former President Donald Trump suggested that Bitcoin could be used to pay off the United States’ $35 trillion national debt which led to an immediate crash of cryptocurrency’s value.
Speaking to Fox Business on Friday, Trump Stated, “Who knows? Maybe we will pay off our hefty $35 trillion, shake them hands with a little crypto check, right?” Furthermore he said, “we’ll hand them some bitcoin and just completely wipe out our said amount.”
Following Trump’s remarks, Bitcoin’s price dropped 12% in the last 24 hours while ether plunged 21%. As such, briefly on Monday Bitcoin prices fell below $50000 for the first time since February this year. The cryptocurrency market has lost significantly with approximately $500 billion in value, within the period covered by CoinTelegraph.
Trump is courting the crypto crowd ahead of the presidential election. At a Nashville bitcoin conference, he indicated they would make America “the crypto capital of planet” if he was re-elected to office again.
Regardless, the standpoint of Trump concerning crypto-currencies has changed dramatically over time. He said in 2019 that it is an extremely variable market and exists only in our imagination.
The sell-off of crypto market went together with fall of stocks over Asia-Pacific markets which were provoked by weak U.S jobs data, bad earnings results from leading tech companies as well as increased tensions in Middle East area.