Stephen Bannon Bets Cryptocurrencies Can Disrupt Traditional Banking

Stephen Bannon believes that bitcoin can be used to disrupt traditional banking the way Donald Trump disrupted traditional politics, reports the New York Times. Bannon, who is 10 months removed from his job as Trump’s chief strategist and five months removed from being ousted from the far right news site Breitbart News, said he has had private meetings with cryptocurrency investors and hedge funds. He also claimed to have a “good stake” in bitcoin, according to the Times. Earlier this spring at a small gathering of academics at Harvard University, Bannon suggested creating a new virtual currency called the “deplorables coin.” This would be a nod to Hillary Clinton’s description of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”

Cryptocurrencies share a lot of the same characteristics as Tea Party politics, which also attracted Bannon. They break old rules, exist on the periphery and they challenge traditional power figures and institutions.

“It’s disruptive populism,” Mr. Bannon said in the interview at his Capitol Hill townhouse in Washington, according to the Times. “It takes control back from central authorities. It’s revolutionary.”