It’s no coincidence that Bitcoin’s collapsing price has coincided with signs of President Donald Trump’s diminishing political power, according to Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize–winning economist and professor of economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
To Krugman, formerly an outspoken and longtime New York Times columnist, Bitcoin’s latest rout is an indication that Trump has lost his edge. Krugman notes that Trump has long been friendly to the crypto industry, in addition to having significant investments in the sector.
“But Trump’s power is visibly diminishing, so the price of Bitcoin, which has in effect become a bet on Trumpism, has plunged,” he added.
“A weakened Trump is less able to work his will on all fronts, including his efforts to promote crypto,” Krugman said.
To be sure, Krugman may be generous in how much credit he gives Trump for his control over cryptocurrency, which operates in its own environment, only adjacent to whomever holds political power. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the Trump administration is implementing policies meant to help cryptocurrency prosper and rebuked the idea that non-policy factors in Trump’s presidency would have the ability to move the price of Bitcoin.
“Only a moron would ignore these policies and attribute price fluctuations for a privately traded cryptocurrency to noneconomic matters concerning the president,” Desai told Fortune in a statement.
