Tim Wu, Biden’s technology adviser, invested up to $5 million in Bitcoin

Tim Wu, the White House technology adviser, holds from $1 million to $5 million in Bitcoin, and from $100,001 to $250,000 in the native token of the Filecoin blockchain platform (FIL). This is according to Politico, citing the expert’s personal-finances disclosure.

According to the document, most of Wu’s wealth was invested in Vanguard mutual funds. Investments in Bitcoin account for 25-43% of his assets.

In March 2021, the President of the United States Joe Biden appointed Wu as technology and competition-policy adviser at the National Economic Council. Prior to this, the specialist taught at Columbia University’s Law School, and during the Obama administration worked at the Federal Trade Commission.

Wu is a well-known critic of monopolies of large tech companies. In 2002 he coined the term network neutrality.

The specialist was not always a supporter of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In 2017, in an article for The New York Times he called digital gold a bubble and questioned its intrinsic value.

“Bitcoin is not backed by any sovereignty. Unlike stocks or bonds, it does not confer rights to anything beyond itself,” the expert wrote.

Wu added that this ‘illusory quality’ characterizes most forms of money. He expressed doubts about Bitcoin’s practical value, as it is difficult to use for paying goods and services.

A White House spokesman who wished to remain anonymous told Politico that Wu recused himself from any matters relating to Bitcoin and other digital assets because of his own interests.

Earlier, Joe Biden directed a study of tracking of cryptocurrency transactions as one of the possible measures against ransomware.