Former congressman Ron Paul just picked up his first Bitcoin during the Litecoin Summit in Las Vegas. The crypto-friendly former US presidential candidate received the Bitcoin (BTC) from Bobby Lee, the co-founder of BTCC, China’s first Bitcoin exchange, and founder and chief executive officer of Ballet, a startup designed to drive global adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Lee gave Paul the Bitcoin, worth about $9,300, on a Ballet wallet.
Ballet produces a wallet that allows users to store popular cryptocurrencies. It supports the three largest by market cap – Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP – as well as Litecoin, currently the sixth-largest crypto. The wallet stores the assets off-line to keep them secure against online hackers. Users can also enable Ballet Crypto, an optional app, for sending assets, checking market values and activating additional currencies.
Paul believes in the separation of money and state. Earlier in the week, he gave a presentation at the Litecoin Summit where he spoke about the overwhelming power of governments.
“Two things that they have done with money – they’ve monopolized money and the monetary process.”
He says the real opportunity for innovators is to “eliminate the whole concept of central banking.”
Speaking to Litecoin and crypto enthusiasts and blockchain developers, Paul says,
“A group like this is much further along about the conditions of society – morally, socially and economically – because the system is built on debt and the debt can’t last forever. No matter what seems to happen today, people think it will last forever. And now they’re talking about the stock market going to 50,000 and 60,000 but it’s all fake. This is fake wealth.
If reproducing digits of money by printing money – that’s what the Fed does – is a move towards wealth, anybody who believes that is mistaken. It dilutes wealth. It distorts wealth. It causes malinvestments. It encourages big government. It encourages the borrowing. It encourages people to take out student loans in trillions of dollars. And right now, our country wants the whole world facing huge debts.”
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“The American empire is on its last legs and it will end, and it’s going to be rough and tumble. But the more we know and understand that, the more we can help prepare. So the better off we are physically and morally, as well as financially, and able to survive, the better off we’ll be.”