Bitcoin is the first decentralized, universal, digital currency that lets you buy things without banks or credit cards. Some see Bitcoin primarily as an investment of stored value, sort of like a company’s stock. Others believe it’s on its way to becoming a dominant form of currency with no financial intermediaries. Is it finding a new place of importance in today’s global economy? Today, we get some insight in a rare interview with professional investor Jeffrey Wernick, who has gone big on Bitcoin, calling it “an ethical investment.”

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

Sharyl: Why do you think Bitcoin is an ethical investment?

Jeffrey Wernick: I think Bitcoin is, is ethical in a sense it has a well-defined rules, and those rules are immutable. So you can’t buy influence. So, what could be more ethical, than an incorruptible protocol? And people trust the protocol to keep lying out of the protocol, through the process under which a Bitcoin is created. So it’s a completely honest ledger, and nobody doubts the integrity of that ledger. You don’t need to hire third party auditors to validate that ledger. So what’s more ethical than something that you have a store that people can exchange value without having to ask permission, doing a transaction on a mutual, voluntary basis, that can’t be censored? There’s no lying involved. The transactions recorded real time. The whole world can observe the transaction without knowing the identity of the parties engaging in the transaction. So what could be more ethical than two parties, two mutually consenting parties agreeing to do a transaction and leaving a public record of that transaction, and knowing that public record is an honest, truthful recognition of that transaction.

Bitcoin was created in 2008 by an anonymous inventor calling himself or itself Satoshi Nakamoto— either a person or a composite, nobody really knows. The complex way it works, people, or companies, create, or mine, Bitcoins, they are called miners, by using a computerized device to solve a mathematical problem that also results in verifying transactions of people buying Bitcoin, recorded in an uncorruptable ledger, further explained in a popular Internet video.

Bitcoin video narration: Bitcoins are digital coins you can send through the Internet. Compared to other alternatives, Bitcoins have a number of advantages. Bitcoins are transferred directly from person to person via the net without going through a bank or clearing house. This means that the fees are much lower, You can use them in every country. Your account cannot be frozen. And there are no prerequisites or arbitrary limits.

Sharyl: What’s happened to the value of a Bitcoin in the past four years?

Wernick: So Bitcoin has gone up tremendously in value.

Since we first reported on Bitcoin in 2020, the value of one coin has gone from about $4,800 to a recent high of more than $103,000. That means a $1000 investment then would be worth $21,460 at the recent peak.

Sharyl: There’s always temptation these days for government to get involved in things. And there’s talk about them somehow getting involved in regulating Bitcoin. What should we look out for on the landscape, do you think in the coming decade?

Wernick: There are regulatory threats, but the regulatory threat is not the Bitcoin in and of itself. It’s to those who are make part of the ecosystem, how they could regulate them. So they could regulate minors by defining miners as financial intermediaries and bring them under control, OCC or some other entity, or they could create some new entity to do that, you know? And they could regulate who’s permitted to, you know, that you’re not allowed to self-custody, so therefore they can track all the movement.

Sharyl: Is there a risk that’s going to happen, you think?

Wernick: I think there’s a great risk that’s gonna happen.

Sharyl: If the government were to take a hostile act, as you say, against Bitcoin, would that impact people who have Bitcoin in terms of make the value of their Bitcoin fall?

Wernick: I think, you know, hostile actions are actions that occurred from a sense of weakness, not of strength. But ultimately, unless the U.S. embraces fiscal, monetary or fiscal responsibility, you know, if the dollar will collapse and something will replace it, and you know, more and more people will like Bitcoin, and also the more and more people that hold Bitcoin, the harder it becomes for them to take hostile action against Bitcoin. So, I assume that the type of people that own a lot of Bitcoin, you know, if the government becomes too restrictive they will move out of the United States. The mining will move out of the United States, and the owners will move out of the United States and there will be other countries that are hostile to the United States, or neutral to the United States or don’t even, or not necessarily don’t dislike the United States but don’t like dollar hegemony that will sit back and say ‘we welcome you’.

Sharyl: Lastly, for ordinary Americans who still don’t know much about this universe, what would you advise them if they were saying, what do you think I ought to do?

Wernick: Last time you asked me this question, I think people should always expect Bitcoin will be highly volatile. So one is someone first is no one should invest in money they can’t afford to lose. Somebody else has to determine their own preferences for risk and own tolerance for risk. So if they feel compelled to look at the price every day, and then when they see a 10%, 20% move, you know, if that’s gonna give them a heart attack, you know, then, then shouldn’t own it. But as long as they feel that they have the stomach for some level of risk can absorb, you know, some losses and just can be patient and know that over time they will be more than fairly compensated for that risk. You know, everybody should own, you know, some Bitcoin.

Sharyl (on-camera): In 2021, El Salvador became the first and so far the only country to officially adopt Bitcoin or any crypto asset as legal tender and a national currency.

Watch video here.