US influencer Tony Robbins claims: “Bitcoin has the potential capability to change how the world handles finances”

Tony Robbins, a popular US entrepreneur, influencer, and New York Times bestselling author, is aiming to enlighten his over 3 million followers on Twitter about the benefits of Bitcoin.

In his post, he covered various topics including how Bitcoin works (including mining) and also his thoughts on what separates Bitcoin from other state-backed currencies.

Tony Robbins is widely known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books, and is also the founder of several companies that earn billions of dollars a year in sales. In 2015 and 2016, he was listed on the Worth Magazine Power 100 list.

Explaining how Bitcoin works

In his article, Robbins gives an accurate description of some of the key ideas behind the Bitcoin network, stating: “Instead of using middleman – say, a bank – to hold the records of all transactions, the records (known as a ledger) are held publically by a network of computers across the world.”

He then goes on to explain how the network is composed of computers that solve open-source mathematical cryptographic problems in order to add blocks to the network (known as the blockchain).

In a powerful statement, he claims: “Bitcoin is decentralized. No single bank, government, company, or individual owns the network or has control over it. This means that your accounts can never be frozen, and a government cannot devalue the currency.”

Avoiding taxation

In a potentially risky statement, Tony also told his readers, “through the anonymous nature of Bitcoin, the technically savvy can avoid taxation and use Bitcoin as payment for any kind of illegal good or service.”

However, he did then go on to state that in the US, Bitcoin is currently taxed as a capital asset. Miners who produce Bitcoin must declare the fair market value of their digital currency on the day it was mined as income, as do contractors who are paid in Bitcoin.

Tony concluded his post by making the point that “if Bitcoin adoption continues to grow, the financial structure as we know it will be altered — but no one still really knows how.”