Belgian MP Gets a Bitcoin Salary for a Year: Here’s What He Learned

[ad_1]

At the end of January 2022, Belgian MP Christophe De Beukelaer became the first European politician to convert his salary into Bitcoin (BTC). Celebrating the anniversary of this experiment, Cointelegraph reached out to a lawmaker to find out more about their experiment.

In 2022, Beukelaer, who represents the Humanist Democratic Center (CDH) party, cited the example of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and how American politicians strive to make their home states or cities hubs Bitcoin to justify its decision. The monthly salary of Brussels MPs of 5,500 euros ($6,140) had to be converted into Bitcoin using the Bit4You crypto-trading platform.

Related: Belgium Says BTC, ETH, and Other Decentralized Coins Are Not Securities

I made this political act of paying in Bitcoin to defend political ideas, Beukelaer shared, citing four: to defend financial freedom and economic opportunity and to fight against financial illiteracy and the growth model. The last one is perhaps the most interesting, because the legislator, who calls himself a pragmatic environmentalist, sees a clear link between Bitcoin and the environmental clause:

What is the central bank doing 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 ever more.

Beukelaer considered his experiment successful in both putting Belgium on the global crypto map and encouraging local officials to educate themselves about digital assets:

Many politicians have said to themselves: De Beukelaer is not an anarchist. If he is interested in Bitcoin, there must be something interesting behind it.

Was it practically comfortable? The positive response is hard to imagine, given that BTC has gone from almost $38,000 in January 2022 to $17,246 at the time of publication in January 2023, but the MP did not consider his experience as an economic strategy. from the start:

It was a political act and not a financial gesture. Like those who grow a mustache 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.

As the first big step towards pan-European regulation is taken, Beukelaer pointed to the reservations of the Markets in Crypto-assets legislation: The excessive constraints imposed on the personal holding of crypto or the way stablecoins are considered.

Europe is heading for difficult times, the politician believes, citing the energy supply and climate crises, and the rise of authoritarian rulers. It is in this respect that Western countries will gradually understand the usefulness of cryptography.

[ad_2]