From Rhetoric to Policy: Kennedy’s Stance on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
In "From Rhetoric to Policy: Kennedy’s Stance on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency," the article explores Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s positions on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology as the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches. Highlighting Kennedy's historical acceptance of Bitcoin donations and his vocal support for blockchain, the piece outlines his promises to enhance government accountability, reform Bitcoin taxation, build a strategic cryptocurrency reserve, and staunchly oppose the adoption of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Liam Ledger
7/31/20244 min read
“Freedom of speech means nothing if the government can freeze your bank account the minute you say something it doesn’t like.”
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The United States presidential election is rapidly approaching and it’s the perfect time to delve into the top three candidates’ positions on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Each candidate will have their own article published in the following order Robert F. Kennedy Jr (I), Donald J. Trump (R), and the Democrat candidate once selected.
Introduction
Kennedy made history, when he became the first US presidential candidate to accept Bitcoin donations. Kennedy has spoken at cryptocurrency conferences and has voiced support for blockchain technology. Kennedy’s campaign promises to prioritize global leadership, right to privacy, regulation, incentivizing development, promoting peace, keeping government honest, building a strategic reserve, incentivizing clean energy, altering taxes, and preventing the adoption of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This article will specifically examine Kennedy’s promise to use blockchain technology to hold the government accountable, reform Bitcoin taxes, build a strategic cryptocurrency reserve, and prevent the central bank from issuing a CBDC.
Blockchain Technology & Government Accountability
Kennedy promises to utilize blockchain technology to promote transparency and prevent corruption among civil servants. Kennedy is advocating using artificial intelligence to automatically record federal financial transaction on a publicly available blockchain.
There are numerous benefits to automatically recording these transactions on the blockchain. These benefits include transparency, accountability, and a reduction in Freedom of Information requests. Once the transactions are recorded on the blockchain anyone will have the ability to see how taxpayer money was spent and the ability to perform in-depth audits. The ability to easily audit US government spending would shed light on how government agencies are spending money. For example, the Pentagon has never been able to successfully pass an independent audit of its financial records. Requiring the Pentagon to record its spending on the blockchain will help prevent taxpayer’s funds from disappearing into a blackhole never to be seen again.
Bitcoin and Taxes
In 2014, without authorization from Congress, the IRS classified Bitcoin as property and declared the purchase and sale of Bitcoin to be a capital transaction. This allowed for the IRS to begin collecting taxes on Bitcoin transaction. Kennedy plans to use executive orders to reverse this policy and require the IRS to issue guidelines affirming transactions between the dollar and Bitcoin are not reportable to or taxable by the United States1. He further promises to issue an executive order requiring the IRS to make Bitcoin eligible as a 1031 asset.
Eliminating taxes on US dollar-Bitcoin transactions is one step closer to true financial freedom for the American people. Mr. Kennedy believes that Americans have the right to financial transaction privacy and that government officials have no business knowing how individuals choose to spend their money.
It should be noted, that while his Bitcoin Conference speech focused on treating Bitcoin as a currency, the Kennedy24 website extends treating all cryptocurrencies as a tradition currency.
Building a Strategic Reserve
At the 2024 Bitcoin conference, Kennedy outlined his vision for the United States government to add Bitcoin to its strategic reserves. He plans to use executive orders to transfer 200,000 US owned Bitcoin to the U.S. Treasury. He further plans to use executive orders to require the U.S. Treasury to purchase 550 BTC per day until the strategic reserves reaches a minimum of 4 million Bitcoin. This would give the United States control of 19% of the total Bitcoin supply which is the same portion of the global gold supply currently held by the US government.
US debt has destabilized the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency. Kennedy promises to restore the dollar to its former position as the unchallenged global reserve currency and believes Bitcoin can help him achieve this goal. Bitcoin’s hard cap of 21 million coins prevents the issuance of new coins and the associated problems with minting new coins.
Central Bank Digital Currency
Kennedy strongly opposes the formation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and promises to never allow the United States government to adopt a CBDC while he is president. In an interview linked on the official Kennedy24 website, Kennedy warns that a CBDC is ripe for potential abuse and could be used to justify ending cash in the United States. Kennedy warns that the use of a CBDC could allow the government to limit where citizens shop, where citizens travel, or have a citizen’s assets immediately frozen if the citizen engaged in non-approved activities.
In summary, adoption of a CBDC would be a death knell to financial privacy, freedom of expression, freedom of travel, and the ability of citizens’ to dissent and oppose government policies.
Conclusion
Kennedy has made numerous campaign promises on how he would like to shape the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. This is a refreshing change from previous presidential candidates where cryptocurrencies have been referred to as a scam and shouldn’t be allowed to compete with the US dollar. One note, in addition to reading this article, the reader is highly encouraged to read the below noted sources to help form their own opinion of Mr. Kennedy’s crypto policies.
Author’s Notes
1 Kennedy notes that only Bitcoin owned directly be the individual would become non-taxable and that Bitcoin ETFs would still be treated as a security.
Bibliography
Bitcoin and Blockchain are Essential to Human Freedom | Kennedy24
My Bitcoin 2024 Keynote Speech - by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (substack.com)
