Thomas “Tom” Lee, the Head of Research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, has defended Bitcoin (BTC) over claims of the cryptocurrency’s use in illicit activities.
Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box, the Bitcoin advocate discounted the claims that Bitcoin plays a major role in nefarious activities as it relates to finance.
The argument over the years, especially from government officials like Senator Elizabeth Warren, has been that Bitcoin is the favorite currency for money launderers and terrorists.
However, several Bitcoin proponents have debunked these claims. Lee has continued to hold this argument, with CNBC host Joe Kernen noting that 99% of illegal funding is in fact done with the US Dollar.
Changing The Bad Bitcoin Image
During the show, Tom Lee made an emphatic statement, noting that “the dollar is used for more illicit activities” than Bitcoin.
When quizzed about what he thinks of the claims from SEC Chairman Gary Gensler who once noted that he trusted Oracle databases more than Distributed Ledgers, Tom Lee expressed his confidence in Blockchain technology.
He stressed that he’d trust the Proof-of-Work (PoW) concept more since it is based on a consensus mechanism rather than a group of 5 or more people managing it.
"The dollar is used for more illicit activities," says @fundstrat’s Tom Lee on $BTC being used for illegal purchases. "Criminals don't trust anybody, but they trust bitcoin." pic.twitter.com/ysgaMs7JYC
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) February 21, 2024
The decentralized and trustless nature of proving transactions on blockchains has long been the major selling point of the technology, as it is generally difficult to game the system.
The link of Bitcoin to illegal activities lies in the pseudo-anonymous nature of its transactions. However, criminal activities have been uncovered in the past, breaking the argument that Bitcoin’s transactions are untraceable.
According to Tom Lee, the trustless nature of Bitcoin also accounts for why criminals who naturally do not trust anyone tend to have confidence in Bitcoin.
Institutional Validation of Bitcoin
Despite the concerns around Bitcoin, the emergence of spot Bitcoin ETFs and the institutions behind the products product has lent much-needed credence to the industry.
BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink has also grown to become a major advocate of Bitcoin. More validation for the digital currency in recent times has been gotten from MicroStrategy whose Chairman Michael Saylor recently revealed the firm would continue to buy Bitcoin forever.