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Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 US presidential candidacy is looking up. Way up. The former New York mayor just qualified for his first Democratic presidential debate. With 19% support nationally, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, Bloomberg trails only Bernie Sanders who has garnered 31% support.
The billionaire media mogul and majority owner of Bloomberg L.P., a late entrant to the US presidential race, will join the debate stage on Wednesday, February 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada, putting his newly released financial reform plan front and center.
Bloomberg’s plan calls for a centralized record of all financial transactions in an effort to restore “protections and safeguards” that he says were put into place after the 2008 financial crisis and then stripped away by President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg says he can undo the damage through centralization and a clear regulatory framework for Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency – the new asset class designed to resist centralization.
According to Bloomberg’s plan,
“Mike will improve America’s ability to anticipate and prevent future crises by restoring funding to the Office of Financial Research, requiring large financial institutions to monitor their risk exposure, and creating a centralized record of all transactions in the markets.”
The plan focuses heavily on consumer protections and targets fairness in payday lending, auto lending, credit reporting, access to credit, banking services and financial opportunities.
Despite centralization running counter to the ethos of decentralized cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, Bloomberg says he’ll support fintech innovation by establishing a safe environment for entrepreneurs and a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
“Finally, Mike will promote healthy competition in financial services by creating a ‘regulatory sandbox’ where startups can test concepts, and by providing a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.”
While leaders in the crypto community are attempting to tackle poverty by opening up financial services for the world’s underserved and by removing intermediaries, reducing high fees and using technology and automated smart contracts to streamline business processes, Bloomberg’s approach is bureaucratic. He’ll impose a new tax.
According to his plan,
“Mike will also introduce a tax of 0.1% on all financial transactions to raise revenue needed to address wealth inequality, and support other measures — such as a speed limit on trading — to curb predatory behavior and reduce the risk of destabilizing ‘flash crashes.’”
You can check out Bloomberg’s full financial reform plan here.
Featured Image/Shutterstock: Sashkin