Story of Belgian MP who receives salary in Bitcoins
2023.01.09 13:11
Story of Belgian MP who receives salary in Bitcoins
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – Christophe De Beukelaer, a member of the Belgian parliament, became the first politician in Europe to convert his salary to Bitcoin (BTC) at the end of January 2022. Cointelegraph reached out to a legislator to learn more about his experience in honor of this experiment’s anniversary.
Beukelaer, who is a member of the Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) party, made the case for his decision in 2022 by pointing to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the work that American politicians are doing to make their home states or cities Bitcoin hubs. Using the Bit4You crypto trading platform, the Brussels MP’s monthly salary of 6,140 euros was to be converted into Bitcoin.
Beukelaer says, “I did this political act of paying in Bitcoin to defend political ideas,” citing four of them: fighting financial illiteracy, promoting economic opportunity, and defending financial freedom The last one is probably the most fascinating because the legislator, who describes himself as a “pragmatic environmentalist,” sees a clear connection between Bitcoin and the environmental clause:
When the central bank prints money, as it has done in recent years, what does it do? It encourages all economic actors to produce and consume more and more by creating the illusion of infinite resources.
“What does the central bank do when it prints money as it has done in recent years? It gives the illusion of infinite resources and thus encourages all economic actors to produce and consume more and more.”
Beukelaer considers his experiment a success because it helped place Belgium on the global crypto map and educated local officials about digital assets:
“A lot of politicians said to themselves: ‘De Beukelaer is not an anarchist. If he is interested in Bitcoin, there must be something interesting behind it.’”
Was it practical and comfortable? Given the BTC’s decline from nearly $38,000 in January 2022 to $17,246 at the time of publication in January 2023, the positive response is hard to imagine. However, the MP did not initially view his experiment as an economic strategy:
“It was a political act and not a financial gesture. Like those who grow mustaches in November to fight prostate cancer. I put this salary in Bitcoin on a cold wallet every month and I haven’t touched it. My goal was not to live in crypto.”
Beukelaer highlights the reservations of the Markets in Crypto-assets legislation (MiCA) despite the fact that the first significant step toward pan-European regulation has been taken: the excessive restrictions placed on individual crypto holding or the way stablecoins are viewed.
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A politician believes that the crises in energy supply and climate, as well as the rise of authoritarian leaders, are pointing to difficult times ahead for Europe. In this way, Western nations will gradually realize the value of cryptocurrencies.
