Crypto Advocate Ron Paul to Headline 2019 Litecoin Summit

by
Wes Messamore
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Former U.S. Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul will be headlining the Litecoin Summit. Paul will be sharing the stage in the luxurious Cosmopolitan hotel on the Las Vegas strip this October with Litecoin creator Charlie Lee and Morgan Creek Digital partner Anthony Pompliano.

The LTC Foundation announced the surprise keynote speaker on Twitter Thursday:

Cryptocurrency and Politics

In a CNBC Squawk Box interview this July, Ron Paul gave his enthusiastic endorsement to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Litecoin:

"I'm all for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology because I like competing currency...I'm for competition, and we'll have to see what the market decides."

Last month, Paul and the Campaign for Liberty non-profit which he chairs came out swinging against the Federal Reserve's new anti-bitcoin "FedNow" payments system.

His views on crypto seem to have evolved in recent years. Paul has been an inveterate gold bug since he ran for Congress the first time in the 1970s. So he was a bitcoin skeptic as recently as 2017. In December of that year, he was surprised when his Twitter followers favored bitcoin over gold 54 to 36%.

Although the Texas Congressman has embraced bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, his 2008 economic advisor, hedge fund manager Peter Schiff, remains skeptical of bitcoin.

Why Ron Paul Wants to End the Fed

As the foundation points out, Ron Paul did write the book on ending the Federal Reserve. He titled his 2009 New York Times bestseller "End The Fed." In the book, he laid out the case for abolishing the nation's central bank because "it is immoral, unconstitutional, impractical, promotes bad economics, and undermines liberty."

In February 2009, Rep. Ron Paul introduced a bill to Congress entitled "The Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act" (H.R. 833). In a speech on the House floor, Paul explained how central banking destroys economic productivity:

"From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the current economic crisis caused by the housing bubble, every economic downturn suffered by this country over the past century can be traced to Federal Reserve policy.

The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and an artificial 'boom' followed by a recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts."

Earlier this month, Ron Paul warned the U.S. central bank is on an inevitable trajectory toward functionally negative interest rates. He predicts the easy money policy will fuel the "biggest bubble in the history of mankind." The resulting distortions in bond markets will require a painful economic adjustment.

This Year's Summit at a Perilous Time for Litecoin

Litecoin's price has plummeted in recent weeks. It fell from a peak of around $140 USD per 1 LTC in June to a seven-month low in the mid-$50s this week. That's because Litecoin tracks the bitcoin price like most altcoins. As a result, Litecoin got swept down in the broader downdraft of the bitcoin bear market. That disappointed Litecoiners who expected to see a price boost from the recent halvening.

Conference-goers will discuss the altcoin's challenges and evolved ecosystem in 2019. But don't forget: the Litecoin summit is about more than Litecoin. It will feature a very diverse group of speakers and attendees from all over the crypto space.