Bitcoin as a US reserve asset is ‘great for price’ but poses significant risks — Charles Hoskinson

The idea of Bitcoin becoming the reserve asset of the United States poses significant centralization risks for the world’s first cryptocurrency despite being an optimistic price catalyst, according to Charles Hoskinson.

Notably, that would represent 19% of the Bitcoin supply, said Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Input Output Global and Cardano.

Hoskinson told Cointelegraph:

“It’s a mixed bag. On one hand, it would be great for the price of Bitcoin, and it would be great for US regulation of Bitcoin because the United States would be pro-Bitcoin in a certain respect.”

US could influence geopolitical power over Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s decentralized supply distribution is among its core benefits, which makes the world’s first cryptocurrency tamper-proof and secure.

However, the US holding 19% of BTC supply could introduce unwanted consequences, warned Hoskinson:

“On the other hand, it also means that if things happen the US disagrees with because it has a strategic interest in the asset, it may use its geopolitical power to change that. So, be careful who you welcome in and be careful of the powers of those people…”

While the exact implications of the US holding a majority of the Bitcoin supply aren’t clear, this is usually a sign of concern with other global assets, explained Hoskinson:

“Traditionally, this is done by conventional regulators, especially with commodities. We don’t like the idea of somebody buying up 20% of the world’s oil supply or something like that. So, that would be a cartel.”

Crypto ETFs open retail access to digital assets: Hoskinson

“They’re going to make it more accessible to certain geographies, certain age groups and also certain risk profiles. And that’s where Wall Street makes all of its money.”

“You can’t stop people from buying or creating financial products to aggregate things together or allow accessibility to happen. So, ETFs are an organic thing, and they occur after the markets reach a certain level of maturity, both in terms of participation and regulation.”