Minnesota representative Tom Emmer says he fully supports and stands with Bitcoin, the blockchain, and crypto-currencies in general and is working diligently to help the sector expand. Tom Emmer chairs the US congressional Blockchain caucus, and terms Bitcoin as revolutionary technology. The US lawmaker spoke at this year’s DC Blockchain summit and had this to say about Bitcoin and the Blockchain.
“Many, including those in this town, would like to focus only on blockchain and ignore or criticize crypto-currency. They will tell us that Bitcoin is used by criminals, and the blockchain is the real innovation. It’s true, there are illicit transactions. But that should not be reason to totally dismiss crypto-currency.”
Emmer went on to say that Bitcoin is the first use case of a public network that allows participants to transfer and exchange value and data without a middleman.
This is the revolutionary aspect of this technology, the idea that we can develop an open network in which we control our own data, while freely interacting with each other, and without having to trust gatekeepers. That idea could be one of the major breakthroughs of our lifetime.” He said.
2019 is the year of blockchain! Thank you @DigitalChamber for welcoming me back to the #DCBlockchain Summit to share my thoughts on the future of this revolutionary technology. I will continue to make a defense of cryptocurrency in the halls of Congress. pic.twitter.com/7ktl8Kp244— Tom Emmer (@RepTomEmmer) March 7, 2019
In his tweet Emmer bullishly declared that 2019 is the year for the Blockchain. He then vowed to continue making a case for crypto-currencies in the halls of congress.
Emmer’s words come in the wake of growing utilities for crypto-currencies not only in the United States but around the world. Coffee giant Starbucks let it be known last week that they had penned a deal with crypto payment platform Bakkt, in order to see to it that crypto users can pay for their coffee using digital currencies. These digital currencies would then be converted to Fiat currency on the platform
Around the world, Venezuela is one of the countries utilizing crypto-currencies the most. The backdrop of this is quite ugly though, as the country has been dogged by a worsening political crisis, precipitated by warring factions allied to current president Nicholas Maduro, and self-proclaimed president and opposition leader, Juan Gaido. The country is also battling US sanctions that have dragged the country’s economy to the precipice, which is why embattled leader, Nicholas Maduro has looked to crypto in an attempt to go around the sanctions.
Emmer’s endorsement of crypto currency and his promise to continue making a case for not only crypto, but also its underlying technology, the blockchain, will no doubt excite many. Crypto-currencies are increasingly being accepted and acknowledged among regulators which is great considering the fact two to three years ago, almost every regulator was either silent on crypto-currencies, or regulating against them entirely.
