It came as no surprise that American president tweeted, he is „not a fan of highly volatile cryptocurrencies that facilitate unlawful behaviour” or that he prefers a “reliable currency”, the “United States dollar”. Trump’s Twitter account is followed by 62 million users.

According to the Coindesk portal, the very fact that the president mentioned cryptocurrencies at all is significant. From a price perspective, Trump’s sceptical remarks were positive for bitcoin.

Coindesk reasons as follows: This tweet marks a symbolic milestone that cryptocurrencies are becoming a more common part of today’s world. Bitcoin must stay relevant to succeed. It is also important that Trump’s tweet came shortly after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had described bitcoin not as a means of payment but as “an alternative to gold”.

All this took place within the context of the announcement made last month about Libra, a cryptocurrency being launched by Facebook. Thanks to its potential global impact on 2.7 billion users, it is forcing people – corporate leaders, bankers and, most importantly, government leaders – to think and talk about cryptocurrencies. That is what prompted Jerome Powell, and even Trump, to label Libra as a cryptocurrency that “will have little standing or dependability”. 

Today, several central banks appear to adopt the strategy “if you can’t beat them, join them”. Chinese newspaper China Daily reported that China was accelerating its plans to produce a digital currency. This came a week after Agustin Carstens, chief of the Bank of International Settlements, said central banks might introduce digital currencies “sooner than we think”. It is a notable turn, considering that, a few months ago, Carstens told he “didn’t see any value in the digital currencies of central banks”.