Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs executive who led Donald Trump’s National Economic Council (NEC) until last month when he resigned, has weighed in on Bitcoin and blockchain technology.
“I’m not a big believer in Bitcoin,” Cohn told CNBC’s Bob Pisani in an interview. “I am a believer in blockchain technology.”
Cohn then made a striking prediction about the future of financial tech, telling the network:
“I do think we will have a global cryptocurrency at some point.”
Cohn clarified that this global cryptocurrency would not be “based on mining costs and costs of electricity and things like that,” a reference to the power-hungry mechanism that Bitcoin and other blockchains utilize.
“It will be a more easily understood cryptocurrency that will probably have some blockchain technology behind it, but it will be much more easily understood how it’s created and how it moves and how people can use it,” he stated.
Cohn was also questioned about a rumored Goldman Sachs’ decision, revealed last week, to launch a Bitcoin Futures trading desk.
“Look, they can do whatever they want. They can do whatever’s in their shareholders’ best interest,” Cohn replied.
Last year, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin also a former Goldman Sachs banker stated the Trump administration was “looking at very carefully at Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.”
Meanwhile, also happening last year, U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary about the darknet and that “Bitcoin is a big problem.”
The U.S. deputy attorney general has previously said they were working on a comprehensive strategy to combat illicit use of cryptocurency such as money laundering or selling illegal drugs in exchange for digital currency.
The DOJ launched a new cybercrime task force earlier this year to develop a strategy around crimes involving cryptocurrency. While the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) also launched its own “Cyber Unit” to combat online threats and “protect retail investors” in cryptocurrency.
Trump himself has not made any known statements about cryptocurrency regulation in the U.S. or the underlying technology. However, Trump issued a historic executive order barring Americans from purchasing the Venezuelan government-backed cryptocurrency, the Petro.
So Trump is aware of the reality of digital currency. Trump also ordered the DOJ to go after “organized transnational cybercrimecrime organizations operated on the darknet” which Sessions noted was ran entirely by digital currency.
Bitcoin is currently trading at [FIAT: $8,745.53] according to Coin Market Cap at the time of this report.
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