Trump’s former finance minister Mnuchin says, “It’s okay” to buy bitcoin instead of buy gold

Bitcoin (BTC) may have been a “scam” to former US President Donald Trump, but his Treasury Secretary seems to have turned to the world’s first and most famous cryptocurrency.

In conversation with CNBC On July 14th, Steven Mnuchin confirmed that his views on Bitcoin had “evolved”.

Mnuchin: Bitcoin’s stance has “evolved a bit”

The Trump administration has been known to publicly reject Bitcoin, and those who hoped for Trump’s endorsement were ultimately disappointed.

Mnuchin himself is less inclined to offer assistance during his tenure at the Treasury Department, but his recent comments suggest that his stance has clearly been softened.

“I think my perspective has evolved a bit, but it has been pretty consistent,” he told the network.

“The first part is that I find the underlying technology behind blockchain really amazing and there are a lot of different things, especially in the finance and fintech sectors. I think it has to do with bitcoin, if people want to buy bitcoin as an alternative – no different from buying gold or any other asset – that’s fine. “

Mnuchin added that he “doesn’t want Bitcoin as a portfolio,” but stressed that he wasn’t against others accepting it.

He then expressed his wish that Bitcoin would have “full BSA and regulatory compliance”.

“In fact, under the OCC, we approved last year that banks could oversee this and the reason is because we want to make sure this is handled in the real world.”

His words were praised by the Bitcoin world, with Saifedean Ammous, the author of “The Bitcoin Standard”. Call Changes are “very easy to see”.

Bitcoin still has few political allies

Mnuchin’s views now seem increasingly at odds with those of Trump, who bluntly labeled Bitcoin a “scam” in one episode last month that ultimately failed to sway market sentiment.

Related: Biden Treasury candidate will prioritize crypto regulation

Meanwhile, under current President Joe Biden, the image doesn’t have much to offer to Bitcoin advocates. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has raised broader concerns about cryptocurrencies, and senior politicians are discussing how to deal with them.

It’s not just the US plight – El Salvador passed legal tender law for Bitcoin in June, which sparked a negative reaction from global financial authorities like the World Bank and the Monetary Fund.

The law, which has been in force since September, is nowhere comparable anywhere in the world. Paraguay, which passed a bitcoin regulatory bill this week, has not announced its plans to introduce a “bitcoin standard”.