Jared Kushner – the son-in-law of President Donald J. Trump – allegedly sought to establish a national digital currency while he was working in the White House, according to leaked emails. While serving as a senior advisor to the President in the year 2018, Kushner spoke regularly with Steven Mnuchin, the person in charge of the Treasury at the time, to discuss brainstorming sessions in which the government might establish a new digital currency for all Americans to utilize.
Kushner, Son-in-Law of Trump, Sought National Digital Currency
The emails were revealed through the Freedom of Information Act. One of the first emails submitted by Jared explains:
Steven, would you be open to me bringing a small group of people to have a brainstorm about this topic? My sense is it could make sense and be something that could ultimately change the way we pay out entitlements as well, saving us a ton in waste fraud and in transaction costs.
The news is intriguing to say the least given that not long after, China became the first country to establish a digital version of its national currency – the yuan. Is it possible that Kushner saw this coming, and he wanted the U.S. to be prepared competitively? Interestingly, since unveiling the digital yuan, China has sought to make all other crypto activity – such as mining and transactions – illegal, likely as a means of preventing competition from affecting the status of the digital yuan.
Furthermore, it is also interesting to see how many people Trump surrounded himself with that were pro-crypto, while Trump himself never was. In a series of tweets in the year 2019, Trump bashed bitcoin and crypto and claimed that digital assets were going to present unnecessary problems for USD, which he said was the money of America. He explained:
I am not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.
Now, even the First Lady Melania Trump is getting into the crypto scene. Not only did she reach out and congratulate bitcoin on becoming 13 years old, she also is getting involved in the non-fungible token (NFT) market, which has grown exponentially over just the last two years alone. It is now estimated that the NFT market is worth more than $7 billion.
Melania Is Getting Involved in NFTs
In her tweet congratulating bitcoin, Melania recently wrote:
It is widely reported that bitcoin’s market cap exceeds USD $1 trillion. Today marks the 13th anniversary of the bitcoin genesis block. Happy anniversary, #SatoshiNakamoto, #MelaniaNFT.
She is also going to be releasing a new NFT featuring a watercolor of her eyes, which are shielded by a famous white hat she wore while visiting French president Macron during her time in the White House.