Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in 2024 as a Democrat, with the filing confirmed on Wednesday, April 5, by his campaign treasurer, John E. Sullivan.
This announcement of his presidential bid made news in the cryptocurrency space after Kennedy Jr. made a strong statement regarding the potential dangers of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on Twitter on the same date. Notably, the Federal Reserve (Fed) announced it could introduce its “FedNow” CBDC in July, which Kennedy Jr. warns could lead to ‘financial slavery and political tyranny.’
According to the 69-year-old, CBDCs would allow the government to surveil all private financial affairs, limiting where individuals can send money and where they can spend it. This could even extend to the expiration of money, which could be used to enforce government policies, such as vaccine mandates.
Kennedy suggests that a CBDC tied to a digital ID and social credit score could allow the government to freeze assets or restrict spending to approved vendors for those who fail to comply with arbitrary diktats. He thus warns that this could be ‘the first step towards banning and seizing Bitcoin (BTC),’ similar to what the Treasury did with gold in 1933.
As a potential presidential candidate, the environmental lawyer’s views on Bitcoin and CBDCs are of great interest to the crypto community. Given his stance on CBDCs, and fear of seizure of Bitcoin, if he is somewhat successful in his presidential bid, it could potentially lead to greater adoption of the digital asset as an alternative to government-controlled digital currencies.
These cautions of a CBDC from Kennedy come at a time when many countries are looking at central bank digital currencies as a possible solution to the crisis in the banking industry and the issues connected with using paper currency.
Kennedy thinks that the present crisis might be used as justification for ushering in a new generation of CBDCs, which poses a possible danger to individuals’ ability to maintain their financial privacy and autonomy.
In light of Kennedy’s statement, crypto enthusiasts may look to his campaign to see if he takes a more pro-crypto stance, which could lead to greater adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
