US presidential candidate Rick Perry has stated he supports “regulatory breathing room” for digital currencies such as bitcoin.
The comments came during a new interview with The New York Observer that found Perry elaborating on issues that could form the core of his fiscal policy.
In the interview, Perry roundly denounced perceived issues in the financial system, stating:
“Wall Street should not be left off the hook for their bad behavior … instead of them being punished, it was the average American who paid the tremendous price. The fact of the matter is, to be quite frank: we got screwed.”
With the remarks, Perry joins fellow Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul in his support for the technology. Paul announced in April that he would accept bitcoin for campaign donations.
Perry announced his candidacy in June following a failed bid for the Republican nomination in 2012. The 65-year-old Republican candidate previously served three terms as governor of Texas, a state that has long been less restrictive in its approach to digital currency regulation.
For example, in April 2014, the Texas Department of Banking was one of the first state-level regulatory bodies to issue guidelines to the industry. Former Texas congressman Steve Stockman was also one of the earliest advocates for the industry in Washington, first lobbying in 2014 to stop proposals such as New York’s BitLicense.
Prior to the end of his term, Stockman submitted a bill that called for a moratorium on digital currency regulation that would have restricted such laws nationwide for five years.
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