Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says he supports crypto-friendly candidate Andrew Yang for the 2020 US presidential election.
The tech entrepreneur’s support came in response to a tweet by American political commentator Dan Carlin.
I support Yang
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2019
Yang’s universal basic income policy (UBI), dubbed the “Freedom Dividend”, will give $1,000 to every American each month.
Musk, who has spoken extensively about artificial intelligence and how technology is dramatically and rapidly changing society, supports the idea of UBI because of the threat of automation and its ability to displace workers. With ongoing technological advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence, the entrepreneur and engineer agrees with Yang that most business processes will eliminate the need for many paid jobs.
Universal income will be necessary over time if AI takes over most human jobs
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 15, 2018
While President Trump is not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, both Yang and Musk see a bright future in the emerging technology that is revolutionizing the definition of money, transforming the financial industry and revamping payment platforms to make transactions instant, transparent and secure.
According to Musk,
“Paper money is going away. Crypto is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper, that’s for sure.”
Yang first began accepting Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto donations for his election campaign last year.
HUGE news – my campaign can now accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies! https://t.co/GScyqfZXLY Let’s build the future together. @Steven_McKie @JulianSarokin @yidagao @AdamDraper @mashadrokova @albertwenger @novogratz @ericbahn @RamanFrey @richardtitus
— Andrew Yang? (@AndrewYang) July 24, 2018
Yang plans to introduce several new standards for cryptocurrencies and their underlying blockchain technology. He says,
“The blockchain has a wealth of potential. Could make many things more secure transparent and efficient.”
The candidate’s proposed policies regarding crypto assets emphasize the need to clearly define digital tokens. He also recommends creating appropriate tax regulations for transactions involving cryptocurrencies.
“We need to figure out which agency is going to be interacting with individual currencies. It would be unfortunate if every time a new currency comes out we then have to decide which framework applies.”
Visited with my friends at Consensus today. The blockchain has vast potential. Thanks @NeerajKA. pic.twitter.com/aGnMttDN7J
— Andrew Yang? (@AndrewYang) May 15, 2019
Last month, several crypto enthusiasts who support Yang launched Humanity Forward Fund (Humanity FWD), a super political action committee (PAC).
The PAC’s payment processor will accept Bitcoin via the Lightning Network (LN), a layer-two solution for conducting faster BTC transactions.
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