[2018-03-04] The Next Generation of Politicians Will Be Crypto’s Biggest Advoc

[FollowSynergy]

Technology favors the young. While tweens are swiping through life and conversing through Snapchat filters, grandma’s still getting the hang of texting. With the average age of a U.S. Senator pegged at 61, it’s no wonder that many officials either don’t get bitcoin or are openly hostile to it. Their loss is the next generation’s gain though, and there are signs that the coming wave of politicians won’t just understand cryptocurrency – they’ll be its biggest advocates.

The Class of 2018 Will Be the Lawmakers of 2028

Learning comes naturally to the young. Picking up a foreign language from birth is easy; mastering one at age 40 is a chore. It’s the same with technology. It would be inaccurate to say that older citizens don’t understand cryptocurrency – many do. For every nonagenarian decrying bitcoin as a noxious poison, there’s a Christopher Giancarlo taking to it with aplomb. Nevertheless, survey data supports the fact that crypto’s biggest advocates are the young. Millennials are twice as likely to own cryptocurrency as older age brackets and 16x more likely to buy it in future compared to over 65s.

The years pass fast though, and the current crop of crypto bears in political office will soon retire or stand down, to be replaced by more youthful and forward-thinking incumbents, to whom cryptocurrency is the iPhone: something that’s just always been there. 36-year-old Republican Senate candidate Austin Petersen is a big bitcoin supporter, and has disclosed two dozen cryptocurrency donations. “I am a big fan of the digital currency community because of what it represents, which is ultimately decentralization,” he explains. He’s not alone; across the pond, a number of youthful European politicians are also onside.

Italy Embraces the Future of Money

At just 28, cryptocurrency holder and co-founder of the Italian Bitcoin Association Gian Luca Comandini is running for office. Elections take place on Sunday, and in a recent televised address, Comandini took a break from electioneering to big up bitcoin as “the future of money”. Blockchain technology and the transparency it provides are an ideal fit for a country that has been blighted by the corruption of elected officials in the past and their murky financing. The Silvio Berlusconis of the world have mercifully been phased out, and in their place a generation of pro-crypto, pro-transparency candidates are emerging such as 10 Times Better party’s Gian Luca Comandini.

On both sides of the Atlantic, the same trend can be seen, and it’s no coincidence that crypto’s cheerleaders are discernibly younger than their peers. At 32, Andrew Hemingway was the youngest gubernatorial candidate in history when he ran for office in New Hampshire four years ago – and the first to accept bitcoin. 29-year-old Democrat Patrick Nelson, who is currently running for Congress, is also accepting donations in bitcoin, together with Brian Forde of California and Arizona Republican Kelli Ward.

Whether any of these politicians get elected at the first time of asking remains to be seen, but time is on their side. It could take another four years; six; eight even, but sooner or later parliaments the world over will be filled with elected officials who’ve grown up with bitcoin. Not all of them will be outright advocates for crypto, but all will accept it as part of the social and financial fabric. Why wouldn’t they? It’ll be all they’ve ever known.

https://news.bitcoin.com/next-generation-politicians-will-cryptos-biggest-advocates/

[Jating]

Interesting thoughts. From where I'm living, we have a lot of young politicians, as young as early to mid 30's. So I wouldn't be surprise if the net batch of politician here will be friendly to crypto as this is the new millennia and gone are the old and traditional politicians.

if this holds true then I guess we are going to see more friendly crypto nations, specially along Asia (minus China) and maybe Europe or Canada. All of this young breeds of politician are very liberal and open minded as opposed to the old generation who we all know loves stock market and the "friendly" banks.

[jjacob]

I am all for people from different walks of life becoming cheerleaders of Bitcoin. If politicians become advocates of Bitcoin and enable the passing of regulation to further its use, I would support it whole-heartedly. In this case, young politicians from developed countries are accepting campaign donations in Bitcoin. But if its use spreads to corrupt politicians in developing countries, then it could reinforce the wrong message about Bitcoin's anonymity and adoption for illegal uses.

[Qartersa]

This is not far from happening because there is nowhere else to go but onward and forward. No matter how resistant people can be in terms of accepting what is new, innovative and at par with times, people have to deal with the necessities of life. Time will come that there will be less to no more trees to cut, hence, money transactions will probably go paperless. Not only is this healthy for the environment, but it is undeniably convenient, fast, and near real-time. Otherwise stated, it is efficient for all intents and purposes.

Paper money cannot compete with this because it is the olden ways, and is only good for the olden days. It is inconvenient because you would have to carry a huge amount every time brought about by inflation, and if ever you travel, you would need various currencies; it is not fast because you would need to wait for change every so often, save for instances whereby you give exact amount; and, it is not real-time because you would need to go to banks to verify money transactions, save for those enrolled through online banking.

Unless central banks up their game in terms of increasing depositors' money, paper money can in no way compete with the power of cryptocurrencies.

Hence, being the future, young legislators would GO for this futuristic innovation.

[Lampaster]

After the change of politicians, the situation does not change. Public policy rarely changes. The state machine is so arranged that only a small part of politicians changes. For this reason, politics has remained stable for a long time. We don't have enough time to wait for evolutionary development.

[DooMAD]

If politicians become advocates of Bitcoin and enable the passing of regulation to further its use, I would support it whole-heartedly.

I'd say it's not just a question of whether they're advocates or not.  It's also about whether they truly understand how it works.  The last thing we need is for misinformed or misguided people trying to pass legislation or enact regulations that won't even work, creating a mess that we have to deal with going forward.  It's also crucial their intentions are genuine about what's best for crypto, not what's best to line their own pockets.  Taking the example of Benjamin Lawsky's "BitLicense" antics, for instance, making him a tidy profit through "consulting", or in plain English, "charging people to show them how to jump through the hoops he just in place to impede their progress".  He was believed to seemingly fit the profile of a young-ish advocate and look what mess he made.

[Sir Cross]

It's quite likely for those who will be in position in the future would have more knowledge about crypto. It can already be seen that this generation is more knowledgeable and can easily adapt to technology as compared to the older generation. It's true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks and it's going to be hard to force the older people to get around with crypto. The new and current generation may be more open towards crypto and would be more willing to learn about it.