Bitcoin News: Trump's Crypto Tycoon Pardon and... what now?

Generated Title: Trump's Crypto Pardons: Swamp Thing or Genius Move? (Spoiler: It's Still a Swamp)

Okay, so Trump pardoned some crypto dude, Changpeng Zhao or "CZ" or whatever. Claims he doesn't even know the guy. Right. Like we're supposed to believe that. I mean, come on.

The Usual Suspects

The official line from Trump's people is that CZ was a victim of Biden's "war on cryptocurrency." A "witch hunt," no less. Oh, please. This is the same guy who halted a fraud case against another crypto bro, Justin Sun, after Sun invested in Trump's family's crypto nonsense. See a pattern here?

And it ain't just CZ. Trump also pardoned founders of BitMEX, these other guys knee-deep in money laundering charges, and even Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road guy. Silk Road! We're talking about a digital marketplace for, shall we say, recreational pharmaceuticals...

What's next? Pardoning ransomware hackers because they're "misunderstood innovators"?

I mean, let's be real, this has "swamp" written all over it.

Wisconsin's "Masterclass" in What Now?

Then you got this finance professor, David Krause, trying to spin the Wisconsin Investment Board's Bitcoin dabbling as some kind of "masterclass in disciplined fiduciary management."

Give me a break.

He claims adding a tiny bit of Bitcoin to a pension portfolio barely increased risk while maybe, possibly, improving returns. He even compares it to gold! As if gold ain't been the refuge of paranoid doomsayers for centuries.

Krause says the "greatest risk for pension funds is not cautiously exploring new asset classes. It is succumbing to dogmatic thinking." Oh, so being responsible with people's retirement money is now "dogmatic"? I guess I'm a dogmatic then.

He says the Wisconsin Investment Board's actions were not reckless or timid. They were textbook fiduciary management. Consider their approach:

* A small, measured allocation: They started with an insignificant 0.1% of the total portfolio

* Active monitoring: They managed the position as market conditions evolved

* Prudent divestment: They sold when it aligned with their strategy, realizing substantial gains

This is what he calls a "masterclass". It sounds more like playing with fire and getting lucky not to get burned.

The Real Question

Look, I'm not saying crypto is inherently evil or anything. Maybe there's some legitimate use case out there beyond speculation and money laundering. But are we really supposed to believe that Trump's sudden interest in crypto is anything other than another grift? 'I don't know who he is,' says Trump after pardoning crypto tycoon And are we really supposed to celebrate a pension fund for gambling -- sorry, "prudently investing" -- in something as volatile as Bitcoin?

And let’s offcourse not forget that the Wisconsin Investment Board sold it all off. If it was such a great investment, why bail?

I don't know, maybe I'm just too cynical. Maybe I'm missing the big picture. But something about all this just smells rotten.

This Ain't No Revolution, It's Just More of the Same