US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended the Consensus conference in Austin on May 30, local time, and had an in-depth exchange with reporters during the media question-and-answer session before his public speech, sharing his insights and opinions on cryptocurrency, debt crisis response strategies, clean energy, etc. Foresight News summarized some of the questions and answers to convey his statements and opinions at the event. For details of the answers to Foresight News ' questions, please click "US presidential candidate answers Foresight News: 21 bitcoins have been bought since the election."
Q: I would like to know what you think about the recent approval of the Ethereum spot ETF. Do you think this is good for governments and traditional financial institutions?
Kennedy: I'm very happy about it. It's a good thing no matter what.
While I speculate that there may be political motivations behind this decision, after all, Gary Gensler (Chairman of the SEC) and the White House have been very opposed to it, it is a step in the right direction.
I applaud this. We should do everything we can to encourage capital to flow into Altcoin and decentralized currencies.
Q: The US is now adding $1 trillion in debt every 100 days. If we end up having to print a lot of money to save the banks, what would your strategy be? Would it include Bitcoin? How would we deal with the debt crisis?
Kennedy : First of all, we need to cut spending, and we need to cut it in a certain way. We are already more indebted than we can get out of debt just by cutting spending.
We have to change the way we spend money so that it can help grow the economy. Current spending is not helping growth, it's just isolated investments.
You build bombers, missiles, and then you destroy it, and that doesn't generate economic growth. In addition, chronic disease (government) spending is now $4.3 trillion, which is five times our military budget. It's also a dead-end investment. It's actually a negative investment because it imposes greater costs on our society and individuals.
We need to end the chronic disease epidemic, and I will. We need to redirect this money into savings or into projects that actually grow the economy. The only way out of this debt is to grow the economy so that the debt becomes proportionally smaller.
There are some opportunities, especially in blockchain technology, artificial intelligence technology, if we manage to keep these technologies in the United States, we can greatly develop our economy just like Silicon Valley did.
I also propose that part of the funds be put into Bitcoin or a basket of hard currencies. In other words, issue Treasury bills, and at the beginning, maybe only 1% of the Treasury bills are made up of a basket of hard assets including Bitcoin. If this works, then increase this proportion to 2% in the second year, and then increase it by one percentage point each year.
I think having the dollar collapse overnight would be bad for our country. But in the long run, we need to discipline our spending. And the only way to do that is with hard money.
The ability to print unlimited money fuels this behavior among politicians, and it fuels all of our wars. If we actually had to pay for war, we wouldn't have these never-ending wars.
The reason we can do this — and it’s very detrimental to our country — is by printing money. Ultimately, hard money gives us freedom. Especially Bitcoin and some of the other cryptocurrencies. It liberates us. It gives us the ability to have democracy and decentralize the economy. It allows us to carry our wealth across borders in our minds.
It ends the government’s ability to steal our wealth.
Q: I was hoping you could elaborate a little more on your plans to put the federal budget on a blockchain, especially in terms of technical details. In practice, which blockchain would be used? What would this look like?
Kennedy : What I want to do is make sure that the federal government -- the federal budget is completely transparent. Everyone can access it. One of the ways to do that is to put it on the blockchain.
I want to use blockchain in many ways to make our country more transparent again, more decentralized, give individuals sovereignty, but also let us encourage the entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem in the United States.
Q: You are the first presidential candidate to publicly support every American having a crypto wallet for self-custody. What do you think about decentralized exchanges and the 50 million Americans, voters, who are invested in cryptocurrencies? Should they be able to use decentralized exchanges as freely as they use their crypto wallets or the internet?
Kennedy : That's my goal. I think cryptocurrencies need to be regulated, especially those that claim to be decentralized but are actually centralized, because there are a lot of opportunities there for scammers and malicious actors to manipulate and deceive and so on. Consumers need to be protected from those actions.
Cryptocurrencies sometimes look like commodities and sometimes look like securities. And federal agencies are not currently equipped to give them the special oversight they deserve. That's what I'm going to do as President.
I want to promote and popularize Bitcoin among the whole people so that it can be used for transactions.
Q: How long do you think it will take before major governments start buying Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, seeing it as an advantage over their adversaries or other superpowers?
Kennedy : I don't know. Two or three years ago, if you asked me when BlackRock would start buying (Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies), I would have said, I don't know. Now BlackRock is one of the largest holders. So to your question, I don't know.
I think we need a shift in government to recognize the role Bitcoin can play in saving the dollar. It is not the enemy of the dollar. In fact, it can be used to save the dollar. I recognize that. Maybe another superpower will do the same. But I don't know.
There are some countries that are officially using Bitcoin as their currency, but it's not very popular yet. Even in El Salvador, Bitcoin only accounts for about 1% of transactions. But I think they haven't done it yet. They haven't thought through the regulatory process. We need to get to that point.
I think adoption is going to be very rapid. It really depends on the inflation rate. But it is insurance against inflation. This opportunity should be offered to every member of the American middle class, along with all the other advantages. Those salaried workers should be able to convert their cash, their investments, into Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.
Q: A lot of the technologies we’ve discussed, from bitcoin mining to artificial intelligence, are very energy-intensive. So what are your solutions for clean energy?
Kennedy: I think the industry does need to do better. But I also think that in the long run, there is a built-in incentive that Bitcoin mining is actually good for the environment. The reason I say that is because even right now, Bitcoin miners are chasing the cheapest energy because energy costs are the biggest.
85% of the cost of Bitcoin mining is energy, and the profit you get from mining depends on your ability to reduce these costs. So, they will go where the energy is free, and they are mobile and can move at any time.
Any Bitcoin miner who buys high-cost energy — the energy that has the greatest environmental impact — will be eliminated from the market because the lowest-cost energy also has the lowest environmental impact. Anyone who doesn't take advantage of this will be eliminated from the market.
Another reason is that I spent 10 to 15 years building power plants, wind and solar plants, and that's intermittent power. It's hard to finance them if you can't guarantee some steady stream of revenue. Bitcoin miners can go to those sites and build mines there because there's a day when the sun shines, but there's a flow of electrons that can't be sold because there's more supply than demand. They can sign a contract saying they're going to buy that power.
They will buy all the excess electricity and use it for Bitcoin mining. This can provide those companies with a revenue stream that, in many cases, will allow them to finance projects that would otherwise be unfinanceable. This is how we achieve the transition to renewable energy.
Q: You mentioned several times that transparency is a desirable feature of cryptocurrencies. What other token characteristics might propel us into the next generation of cryptocurrencies?
Kennedy: I can't tell you the specific token, but the characteristics it should have are transparency, decentralization, and it can't be manipulated like fiat currency. If we had a base currency, we wouldn't have fought all the wars except maybe World War II and World War I. Because the Americans would have to approve these expenditures in advance, and they don't do that.
They have to choose between sending their kids to school and eating and going to war, and they won't choose war. Now politicians can go to war because it costs them nothing. They pass the cost on to future generations, diluting our wealth through inflation. So cryptocurrencies have this advantage, they keep governments honest. If you're in a totalitarian system, you can take your wealth with you.
After 1948, a million Jews were expelled from various countries in North Africa and the Middle East, and new laws required them to leave with only their possessions in suitcases. They lost all their wealth. The same thing happened in Germany after World War II. With cryptocurrency, that doesn't happen. You can carry your wealth in your head. You don't have to carry it with you.
So it's a safeguard against totalitarian regimes. It also... If you try to carry $10,000 across the border with the United States, no matter where in the world you're from, the government will do one of two things: either put you in jail, or steal your money and put you in jail.
Those are the only two options you have. But if you have cryptocurrency, you can cross borders with the money in your head and keep your wealth. It eliminates the power of governments to regulate us and oppress us.
