One Year After Trudeau’s Bitcoin Warning, BTC Still Beat Inflation and S&P 500
- Since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said political rival Pierre Poilievre’s call for Canadians to buy bitcoin was irresponsible, the digital asset is up 15%, beating inflation and the S&P 500.
- Despite Trudeau’s hostility towards crypto, several Liberal Members of Parliament own digital assets.
One year ago, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that opposition leader Pierre Poilievre’s suggestion that Canadians invest in bitcoin (BTC) to beat inflation was “not responsible leadership.”
However, despite the market-shaking events that occurred in the months after Trudeau’s warning, which kicked off a deep crypto winter, it turns out that Poilievre’s advice was sound.
During the past calendar year, bitcoin is up approximately 15% while inflation came in at 6.5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statistics Canada reports the nation’s inflation rate was slightly higher, with the nation’s CPI up 6.8% annually.
“Telling people they can opt out of inflation by investing in cryptocurrencies is not responsible leadership,” Trudeau tweeted last September in response to a comment from Poilievre that “Canadians should have the freedom to use other money, such as bitcoin.”
Bitcoin also outperformed the S&P 500, a broad index of the biggest listed companies in the U.S.
The CoinDesk Currency Select Index (CCYS) and the CoinDesk Currency Index (CCY) from CoinDesk Indicies would have also netted positive after inflation, with CCYS up 14.8% on-year and CCY up 13% on-year. Bitcoin makes up the majority of the weighting of CCYS, while CCY has a broad selection of large-cap digital assets.
