“Just because I think something is dumb doesn’t mean I think it should be illegal.” — Nicholas Anthony on meme coins

Earlier this month, Elizabeth Warren called for an SEC investigation of Donald Trump’s meme coin. Is the Pope Catholic? No surprise there. More revealing are other critics of the “presidential” token which netted our Grifter-in-Chief $636 million last year. Take, for example, Nicholas Anthony, an expert on crypto at the Cato Institute and author of Digital Currency or Digital Control? It’s news when an unashamed libertarian from Washington’s own temple of free markets calls the president’s crypto adventure “completely unnecessary.” Maybe the Pope isn’t Catholic. Or maybe Elizabeth Warren should join the Cato Institute.

Anthony’s verdict is withering because, under his libertarian shell, he’s a crypto bro. The meme coin “has been a problem for everyone but Trump,” he argues, because it has held up legislation, invited investigations, and weaponized ethics concerns about crypto.

“We have no one to blame except Trump…” Anthony concludes bleakly. “He knew better than to do it, but he saw the opportunity and ran with it.”

When I accused Anthony of sounding like Elizabeth Warren, he was more amused than offended. Unlike the Warren crowd, however, he doesn’t want to ban crypto. “Just because I think something is dumb,” he says, “doesn’t mean I think it should be illegal.” So while Trump-style meme coins are a natural habitat for what he calls “rug pulls,” that shouldn’t be an excuse for lawmakers to pull the rug from the entire industry. Crypto can still revolutionize finance, Anthony believes. It can democratize centralized banking. It can make money fairer. Just don’t confuse that with a Melania meme coin.

Five Takeaways

• A Hard No from Cato. A libertarian verdict on Trump’s meme coin: “completely unnecessary” and “a problem for everyone but Trump” — stalling legislation, inviting investigations. “He knew better.”

• Dumb, But Not Illegal. Meme coins are trading cards; rug pulls are theft. Fraud is fraud, an investigation of the president is “perfectly reasonable,” and if something happened behind the scenes, “he should be prosecuted.”

• The Dollar Launders Better. Roughly 1% of crypto activity is illegal versus about 5% of dollars. Criminals prefer untraceable cash; public blockchains remember everything.

• Free Banking’s Revenge. Crypto is the first challenge in a century to the central-bank monopoly on money — heir to Scottish free banking. Zimbabwe’s queues and the two-Corvette dollar make the case for competition.

• Swept Up by Trump. Cruz and Lee see no wrong; Lummis did the homework; Coinbase tiptoes around the man signing its rules. From Cato, Anthony can “call balls and strikes.”

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Guest: Nicholas Anthony, Cato Institute

Chapters:

00:00:31 Introduction: Warren, the SEC, and a $350 million meme coin
00:02:08 “Am I putting words into your mouth?” A hard no from Cato
00:03:07 What’s behind the Trump coin? Pure self-interest
00:05:12 Trump’s conversion: from crypto skeptic to crypto salesman
00:06:38 Why Cato claims crypto: cypherpunks and free banking
00:09:27 Zimbabwe’s queues and the two-Corvette dollar
00:13:51 Theory vs practice: Argentina, Lebanon, and beyond
00:15:37 The ideal laundering vehicle? It’s the dollar
00:17:57 Meme coins: trading cards and rug pulls
00:20:11 “You’re sounding like Elizabeth Warren again”
00:21:43 Dumb, but not illegal: where libertarians draw the line
00:22:44 A reasonable investigation of the sitting president
00:24:34 Brilliantly marketed or fraudulently sold?
00:30:46 Crypto in Africa: Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya
00:31:41 The conservatives who can do no wrong: Cruz and Lee
00:34:16 The principled exception: Cynthia Lummis
00:36:09 Coinbase walks the careful line
00:38:01 Is anyone in Silicon Valley willing to call a scam a scam?
00:41:04 Crypto’s wave, AI’s fever: where we are in the story
00:44:17 Cypherpunks vs bankers: who appropriates whom?
00:46:11 Are you Satoshi? A 2012 origin story
00:47:28 A Keen meme? “More trouble than it’s worth”