Position: Former Director of the US Mint
Education: Bachelors of Arts in Economics, International Relations, and Political Science from University of Wisconsin–Madison
Twitter: @EdmundCMoy
Edmund Moy served as the 38th Director of the US Mint. Moy gained attention in the Bitcoin space in May-2014 when he tweeted about cryptocurrencies acting as competition against banks. A day later, he wrote a blog post claiming Bitcoin “will be a disruptor to the traditional notions of currency”.
Since his initial tweets about Bitcoin, Moy has become more involved with the digital currency. In November 2015, he attended the Bitcoin Investor Conference in Las Vegas. In March 2016, he was featured as a guest on the Bitcoin Knowledge Podcast.
Quotes
On Bitcoin and the privatization of money:
Well, I see bitcoin as the improvement in technology that allows money to be privatized again, back where it should be because it is my belief that one of the main uses of money is economic transactions. Why is government involved in economic transactions except for the ability to tax that transaction and get their income out of it? So, if money is primarily used in economic transactions between two people, then it makes a lot of sense to me that — if current technology allows, then money should be privatized because it’s used between two people.
On Bitcoin and its implications:
Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are decentralized. This means that it is a currency that is not issued by any central authority like a sovereign government. As a result, it is the most profound challenge to governments’ monopoly on creating money […] Bitcoin, and the ideas behind it, will be a disruptor to the traditional notions of currency. In the end, currency will be better for it.
A tweet by Moy in July 2014:
I bought my first bitcoin last week. Easy peasy.
On the advantages of Bitcoin:
One big advantage that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have globally is that it is a protocol in addition to being a currency. For example, because Bitcoin transactions are peer-to-peer, the banking system is mostly not needed and nor are their hefty transactions costs. P2P also transmits payments much faster. And because Bitcoin is decentralized, there are no exchange rates and accompanying expensive foreign exchange transaction fees. That means less friction in international trade.