Max Keiser: Bitcoin's First Function Is to Clean Up the Mess Left by US Dollar

Bitcoin (BTC) beats both fiat currency and gold because it does not need settlement, RT host Max Keiser has said.

In the latest episode of the network’s Keiser Report on Nov. 7, the well-known Bitcoin bull explained that other forms of transactions need settlement time, but Bitcoin does not.

Keiser: BTC “uniquely self-settling”

This is because, in Bitcoin, the transaction and settlement are inseparable from one another. Moving BTC between wallets simply means updating a ledger, which implies instantaneous settlement as miners confirm the transactions. 

“There’s a lot of friction, both in paper and in gold. Bitcoin, uniquely, is self-settling — the transaction is the settlement. When the transaction hits, it settles,” Keiser summarized.

The episode appeared as governments supporting paper fiat with digital versions of national currencies continue to form a major talking point worldwide.

As Cointelegraph reported, China looks to be the first state to issue a digital yuan, while other central banks are eyeing the possibility, including the European Central Bank, or ECB.

While digital transactions would cut both costs and settlement times, such currencies’ relationship to the fiat system ultimately makes them political tools — with Keiser pointing the “weaponization” of the U.S. dollar for sanctions — and subject to censorship as well as other centralization pitfalls. 

Anti-Bitcoin Congressman “doesn’t understand he’s lost”

Keiser meanwhile also criticized U.S. congressman Brad Sherman, the notorious Bitcoin critic who continues to argue for an outright ban on cryptocurrency. 

“Brad Sherman is going to a gunfight with a knife, he has failed to take on board exactly what the dimension of this battle is going to be,” he said. Keiser added:“He doesn’t understand he’s already lost.”

Other governments looking to undermine U.S. dollar supremacy should thus open up their access to Bitcoin and make it part of their reserves. Rumors have long swirled around Russia, in particular, buying up large amounts of Bitcoin in the face of international sanctions.