Tom Lee Is Afraid Trump will Institute a Bitcoin Ban

Fundstrat Lead Analyst Thomas Lee shared his worst nightmare on Twitter and it involved the U.S. President placing a ban on Bitcoin.

Is Libra Dragging Bitcoin Down?

As the US Congress and Senate hearings on Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency wrapped up, members of the Trump administration shifted their gaze onto Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole. During both hearings a number of lawmakers openly aired their opinion that Libra should never be allowed to launch. Even more concerning, on Thursday US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made media waves when he told CNBC Squawk Box that the U.S. government intends to implement “very, very, strong” regulations on cryptocurrencies to ensure they do not become “Swiss-numbered bank accounts”. 

For cryptocurrency investors, these mutterings generated mixed emotions and some are fearful that the government generated FUD could put a permanent dent in what many are interpreting as the start of a bull market. 

Lee’s Worst Nightmare

Fundstrat head analyst Thomas Lee appears to share in these fears and over the past 3 days, Lee posted tweets outlining his fear that Bitcoin’s 5 minutes of fame could expose it to the ire of President Trump. According to Lee, Bitcoin price action is likely to remain “choppy” until the media and legislative focus shift on to other matters. 

Lee believes that the current Bitcoin coverage is turning into “too much of a good thing” and he advised that more Bitcoin beneficial chatter surrounding Brexit, the China trade war, and European bank issues need to make news headlines. On July 13, Lee tweeted a screenshot a section of the official U.S. ban on the Venezuelan Petro and he placed extra emphasis on the following section:

any digital coin, or digital token, what was issued by, for, on behalf of the Government of Venezuela on or after January 9, 2018, are prohibited as of the effective of this order. 

According to Lee, while highly unlikely, the President could easily sign an executive order to ban Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions in the United States just like he did for Venezuela. Without providing much explanation, Lee concluded that such a drastic move would probably result in a Bitcoin fork. 

Bitcoin Shakes off the FUD

Despite these worries, Lee is still confident that now is the time to be invested in Bitcoin and he ends his tweet with #BTFD and #cryptowinter over. Interestingly, during the hearings Bitcoin slowly dropped to $9,100 but in the early trading hours on Thursday the digital asset managed a $1,000 upside move in a little over 30 minutes. At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades slightly above $10,600 and traders are hopeful that the cryptocurrency can reenter the $11,200 to $11,500 range over the next 24-hours. 

Do you think the Trump Administration will make cryptocurrency regulation a priority? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @SquawkCNBC