In the recent interview Former President Donald Trump expressed support for using Bitcoin as a tool to assist pay down the United States’ $35 trillion national debt in an interview with Fox News as he prepares for a potential re-election in 2024, signaling a significant shift in the Republican Party’s stance on digital assets.
Trump’s Strategy to Pay Off $35 Trillion of Debt with Bitcoin
“Crypto is a very interesting thing, very high level in some aspects, intellectually very high level,” Trump said. The former president acknowledged that cryptocurrencies are developing rapidly and are being adopted around the world, warning that if the U.S. does not embrace the technology, countries like China will move forward and take the initiative.
Trump’s latest comments follow proposals from Republican Party figures such as Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis and former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who have made idea the US government investing in Bitcoin cryptocurrency to assist pay down the national debt.
While Trump did not provide any modern details, he did suggest the possibility that the government would simply “issue a little crypto” or “give them some bitcoin” as a way to pay down the $35 trillion in debt.
Genesis Launches $1.6 Billion in BTC and ETH Transfers
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, briefly fell below $63,000, hitting a weekly low of $62,440, as news of the Genesis distributions hit the market. According to announcement Under Genesis’ August 2 bankruptcy plan, the company has begun making Chapter 11 distributions to creditors.
As part of the initial distribution, BTC creditors will receive 51.28% of their shares in kind, while ETH creditors will receive 65.87% of their ETH shares. On the other hand, creditors of other altcoins, excluding Solana (SOL), will receive an average of 87.65% of their shares, while Solana creditors will receive 29.58% of their shares.
The distribution has already started, and in the last hour, wallets associated with Genesis Trading transferred 16.6k BTC ($1.1bn) and 166.3k ETH ($521.1m). According to to the Arkham market intelligence platform.
Interestingly, billionaire investor and cryptocurrency advocate Mark Cuban has supposedly received $19.9 million in ETH from the bankruptcy of Genesis, further highlighting the consequences of the company’s collapse.
The company also disclosed that creditors have set up a $70 million litigation fund to pursue claims from various third parties, including Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Genesis.
At the time of writing, the market’s largest cryptocurrency has managed to reclaim the $63,100 level after falling towards the $62,000 zone on Friday. BTC is currently down 0.8% in 24 hours.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
