Trump Was Correct, Cryptocurrencies Are A Scam

By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

 

President Trump can change his mind with respect to any issue.  That is his prerogative, and ours too.  He once called cryptocurrencies a scam; and lots of us agreed with him.[2]

One can assign value to anything; for example, a load of turnips.  As long as there isn't fraud in the sale of them—for example, the turnips actually exist—their value is what the market for turnips says it is.

I wouldn't spend two cents on a "Bitcoin"[3] or other cryptocurrencies, nor would I buy one turnip, much less a load of them.  I don't like turnips.  But I do not begrudge anyone from deciding differently.

If God help us, we were struck by an EMP Attack, and most Americans died[4], would cryptocurrencies have any value in trading for scarce commodities such as food?  Hopefully we never need to answer that question.

 

 

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© 2025, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at The Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at [email protected]

[2]  See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14454299/Trump-critical-industry-called-scam-crypto-soars.html ("Trump makes major U-turn on 'critical industry' he once called a scam"); see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency ("Cryptocurrency") and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cryptocurrency_by_country_or_territory#United_States ("Legality of cryptocurrency by country or territory") and https://moneysmart.gov.au/investment-warnings/crypto-assets#:~:text=Crypto%20is%20a%20high%2Drisk,and%20be%20wary%20of%20scammers.

[3]  See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin ("Bitcoin")

[4]  See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/emp-attack-only-30-million-americans-survive/ ("EMP Attack: Only 30 Million Americans Survive")