Lesetja Kganyago, the governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), criticized crypto advocates at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. He focused on their efforts to pressure countries to add Bitcoin to their national reserves, questioning the reasoning behind prioritizing Bitcoin over other assets.

During a panel discussion, Kganyago expressed skepticism about why crypto lobbyists are pushing Bitcoin to be held in national reserves while ignoring other valuable assets like platinum or coal. He compared it to holding reserves of unrelated commodities, such as beef or apples, suggesting that Bitcoin is no more special than other resources.
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, told the same panel that if Donald Trump returned as U.S. president, it could attract more investment in cryptocurrency. He also mentioned that Trump’s support for a government Bitcoin reserve could boost crypto adoption. Kganyago responded strongly, criticizing the idea of governments being pressured to hold specific assets like Bitcoin without broader considerations.
Kganyago warned about “regulatory capture,” a situation where regulatory agencies are unduly influenced by the industries they are supposed to regulate. He suggested that the crypto industry’s aggressive lobbying, especially in the U.S., could lead to biased regulations driven by money rather than fair oversight.
In contrast to Kganyago, Armstrong defended the crypto industry’s lobbying efforts, arguing that influencing elections reflects democracy in action. He believes it’s a sign of how industries can use democratic processes to promote their interests.
Final Thoughts
During the last U.S. elections, crypto companies donated large sums of money to political candidates who supported crypto-friendly policies. Many of these candidates won, creating what has been called the most crypto-friendly U.S. Congress, and this is Kganyago’s concern, that this could result in regulations shaped by financial influence rather than public interest.
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