The underestimated currency risk – Diepresse.com

At the latest since President Trump wants to make the United States a « crypto supermay of the planet » and the US central bank In addition, keeping Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as « currency reserves » would have to beat the alarm bells among the currency huts of the world. But there is little resistance to be heard.

The fact that the US President, as well as his wife, Melania, also enriched himself with the market launch of his own crypto coins a few days before his angry at the expense of all those who have long since accepted a drastic loss of value, does not seem to be serious-despite one of the « Financial Times“At $ 350 million estimated profits for the presidential family.

If all of this were just an annoying, but ultimately financial economically insignificant matter, you could check them off and put them in the showcase a weekly pop -up presidential sailing. However, this would mean underestimating the associated dangers.

Got used to Bitcoin

Even if we got used to the existence of this speculative money suggestion: the story of Bitcoin is truly cryptic. A certain Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity has not yet been clarified, invents the world’s first decentralized payment method in 2008. The prospect of limitation to 21 million units (« coins ») provides those who keep bitcoins long enough, in the prospect of increases in value – provided that only demand can be heated again and again.

The « digging » of the currency units – the conceptual closeness to the mining of valuable gold is well intended – is anonymous on decentralized computers with high energy expenditure. This anonymity is highly praised by the crypto community and highlighted as an advantage over central currency sovereignty by central banks. Well.

Since the American financial market supervision approved the inclusion of cryptocurrencies in securities fund last year, the interest of the money managers who have long been reluctant to reserve this globe has increased. A pure speculation medium that has no real economy was actually legitimized. However, the awarding of the status of a kind of « reserve currency » now exceeds the compatible limit of an increasingly questionable global fake.

With Trump’s support, the topic for speculators gets a new dimension. The faith community of crypto investors grows and-despite repeated setbacks-contributes to significant increases in the course with this growth alone. Although institutional investors most recently deducted funds from crypto funds and thus ensured a more than twenty percent drop in price compared to the maximum of $ 110,000, speculation professionals from a Bitcoin course of up to $ 1.5 million fantasize within five years. Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest investment society Black rockwith a still very proud estimate of 750,000, is about half.

In addition to Bitcoin, a flood of over ten thousand digital art money has been built in the past two decades. These include the so-called stable coins, which pull advantages from the firm bond with an existing currency. The stronger it succeeds in triggering pyramid -game -like merchants via influencers and speculative fellow believers on these and related play money, the more likely
The – mostly only temporary – « value » increase.

Minimize crypto risks

It can be argued excellently whether such gambling should be allowed and how they would be taxed. But the following also applies here: as long as these are orders of magnitude that cannot lead to the destabilization of established currencies, even with strong fluctuations in value, this hustle and bustle could be checked off as a fad. After all, the buyers know that they are involved in incalculable risks that ultimately carry them themselves.

However, with the Trump crypto, an escalation level is achieved that urgently requires to put an end to the spook or at least incorporate damage to damage before financial upheavals arise that harm all. The exploding increase in speculative financial transactions,
Often influenced by specifically scattered information on social media, the risk of unpredictable, collective market reactions, as we do in
had to experience the 2008 financial crisis:

Especially at a time when Europe struggles to secure the stability of its community currency despite the retrofitting -related additional debt, it would be fatal to overlook the sources of possible systemic risks.

Now one would have to support money assessments in real -economically sensible instruments. Risk capital that deserves this name should be invested in innovations and companies-and not on the gaming tables of the crypto casinos. The long -awaited, long overdue European capital market union will not get going differently!

Dr. Wilfried Stadler (*1951) is an economist and publicist. He was a co -editor of the weekly newspaper « Die Frei » (2003–2023).