President Harris Should Buy Bitcoin to Pay Black Americans Reparations
Not so fast. Let’s take this one seriously.
Vice President Kamala Harris went live with her first crypto-specific policy yesterday, vowing to help protect Black Americans who invest in cryptocurrency. This is standard issue stuff for the Democratic Party in 2024, where as Nik points out, the cause of anti-racism is alive and well.
For the sake of argument, let’s even put aside Nik’s more valid critiques.
I, too, am concerned that, without policy specifics, a Harris administration could use this policy to prevent Black Americans from the benefits of owning Bitcoin.
For now, let’s deal with the very real issue of reparations. The United States is a Democracy, and data shows over 70% of Black Americans feel the federal government should pay them restitution for the suffering of their ancestors (compared to just 12% of white Americans). Three-quarters also believe the Federal government should make the payment.
Let’s also consider the fact that, as Harris’s opponent, Donald Trump, has so clearly articulated, Bitcoin is the best chance America has to pay off an exorbitant sum like the $35 trillion national debt. (Trump’s own quote is that we could “pay a little crypto” to absolve the deficit).
With some estimates suggesting the value of reparations for slavery to be above $12 trillion, maybe it’s time for Democrats to consider Bitcoin as part of the solution, not as an industry to hold back with onerous regulation.
After all, the Trump campaign has already made clear: it believes the treasure trove of over 200,000 BTC (confiscated from dark markets and criminals) is an asset to wield strategically.
With this in mind, why shouldn’t the Democrats consider Bitcoin a similar strategic investment, buying and selling Bitcoin for the goals aligned with their voting constituency?
Sure, you could argue that using America’s stockpile of Bitcoin should be a bipartisan effort, and that its use should benefit everyone. But clearly, any payment of reparations would require either additional money printing (and currency debatement) or taxation.
Paying reparations in Bitcoin (as others have suggested making cash payments to the descendants of slaves) would be convenient and useful, and it would protect these Americans and their wealth from continued debasement by U.S. policymakers.
Call it a half-baked idea, maybe. But for the Harris Administration, it could mean fulfilling long broken promises. For millions, the institution of chattel slavery, where Blacks were bought and sold as property, is a painful history that remains real.
Like Bitcoin itself, putting this in the past could be a once-in-a-century opportunity.
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