Bitcoin sinks after Treasury Secretary Bessent says US government can't tell banks to bail out crypto

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell 2% on Wednesday to around $73,000 per token after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the US government would not bail out the cryptocurrency.

In a heated back-and-forth during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, Bessent was asked if the US Treasury had the authority to buy bitcoin or other cryptos.

"I do not have the authority to do that, and as chair of FSOC, I do not have that authority," Bessent stated.

The decline on Wednesday was also fueled by the broader selling pressure in markets and a warning from notable investor Michael Burry that a sustained decline in bitcoin's price could "set in motion a death spiral leading to massive value destruction."

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-sinks-after-treasury-secretary-bessent-says-us-government-cant-tell-banks-to-bail-out-crypto-195504406.html

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Nor should we. Though I wouldn't be surprised if Bessent's boss would pressure him to bail it out.

[lostincalifornia]

1. No they shouldn't bailout that pseudo pyramid scheme.

[ClaudetteCC]

4. I never understood the value of the record of a transaction

While capped at 21m it is really an electronic form of 'ledger paper.' Yes, I get hashes and blocks and chains of blocks and all that but I just don't see a conversion to dollars from that other than 'scarcity.'

[reACTIONary]

8. Sure, it's just numbers in the cloud, but ....

.... it has a couple of killer-app use cases: Money laundering and ransom payments!

[ClaudetteCC]

9. etherium has better use cases than bitcoin

[reACTIONary]

14. ETF's? At least..

... trading cards are rather benign. Not good for supporting criminal enterprises.

[ClaudetteCC]

19. Decentralized Applications or 'dApps'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_application

[ClaudetteCC]

20. iirc etherium was designed specifically for dApp 'smart contracts'

[Shipwack]

10. You forgot drugs and child porn.... nt

[reACTIONary]

12. I stick with what I know....

.... Oh, wait! Let me take that back!

[bucolic_frolic]

2. So they hid all the QE in crypto

In 2008 it was hidden in the price of homes. But a lot of people will implode if crypto falls. Massive value destruction indeed.

[ClaudetteCC]

5. It seems the price of 'homes' even with inflation

have currently (in the USA) far exceeded the 2008 price.

[bucolic_frolic]

16. Good point

There's plenty of slush fund to go around. Imagine the price of either asset - housing or crypto - without the sponge effect of the other.

[dweller]

3. Sounds like

They were depending on a bailout … too bad so sad



✌🏻

[flashman13]

6. Crypto is simply canned air. It has no intrinsic value. All it will take is for one large holder to sell off a

significant amount of coins all at once. That will cause the next two holders to sell while the price is still high. Next thing you know there is a mass stampede for the door. In very short order prices collapse and it all becomes worthless. That would probably be okay, but because of lax regulation, it is possible to collateralize real world loans with bitcoin. If bitcoin goes south, all those loans go south too. It's effectively what happened in 1929 all over again.

[progree]

7. Bitcoin has fallen 43% since its $126,000 all-time high back in October

That's like 2 bear markets in series end-to-end
Currently at 71,664 and falling
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BTC-USD

[OldBaldy1701E]

11. Well...

[pansypoo53219]

13. HA HA.

[pat_k]

15. "value destruction" of cryptocurrency has a nice ring to it. (nt)

[Javaman]

17. that means they will.

all they do is lie

[ChicagoTeamster]

18. That's the only reason bitcoin and other crypto started climbing after Trump took office.

The assholes were expecting their crypto to be bought for the creation of Trump's Crypto Reserve.