Should the United States government ban the greenback? Colorado Democratic Congressman Jared Polis wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and five other federal regulators – it was confirmed by his press secretary that it was never actually sent to them – Wednesday in which he urged the government to ban the U.S. dollar because it’s susceptible to forgery, illicit activity and instability. Of course, it was all in jest.
“I write today to express my concerns about United States dollar bills,” stated Polis. “The exchange of dollar bills, including high denomination bills, is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly subject to forgery, theft, and loss.”
The letter was written in response to the various calls for bitcoin regulations and possible prohibitions. Polis’s primary argument was that bitcoin’s risks and dangers are equal to that of the dollar.
“The clear use of dollar bills for transacting in illegal goods, anonymous transactions, tax fraud, and services or speculative gambling make me wary of their use,” Polis wrote. “Before the United States gets too far behind the curve on this important topic, I urge the regulators to work together, act quickly, and prohibit this dangerous currency from harming hard-working Americans.”
Many in the bitcoin community have concurred with the letter and say that bitcoin is just another tool for anyone else to participate in market exchanges. However, one thing that proponents of the digital currency say is different from the dollar is that bitcoin maintains value.
If there was any serious suggestions in his letter would there be validity to his arguments? Well, the U.S. dollar is prone to counterfeiting through the Federal Reserve, it is subjected to devaluation because of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies and millions of Americans experience theft everyday because of the inflation tax imposed by the Federal Reserve.
Three bitcoin exchange platforms have shut down thus far after experiencing astronomical heists – Mt. Gox, Flexcoin and Poloniex. Although these incidents occurred because of the security flaws and vulnerabilities of the exchange platforms and not the bitcoin protocol itself, many are calling for the end of bitcoin, whether it’s through market forces or government intrusion.
The key question is: should the same be said when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke allocated $15 trillion to foreign and domestic financial entities? This could be argued that it was theft from the American people, plus this was such an immense sum – unfortunately it was buried in the news headlines for some reason.
Even if Polis, who is considered the most technologically savvy individual in Congress, was serious, there should not be a ban on the dollar. Instead, perhaps the U.S. should consider competing currencies and allow the market to decide what’s valuable and what isn’t. If the Federal Reserve and federal government are confident in the power of the dollar then competition in the world of currencies should be permitted, and that includes bitcoin and other digital currencies; dogecoins, RonPaulCoins, NoFiatCoins, litecoins and the 90 or so others.
