QE fuelled Bitcoin, claims ex-tory chief

BITCOIN is the “child of the great quantitative easing” by the likes of the Bank of England, the former Conservative Party treasurer has claimed.

Lord Spencer blamed the vast programme of bond buying carried out by central banks for creating a price bubble for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, saying the Bank of England “printed too much money” and caused a “very rapid growth in the money supply”.

“My feeling is Bitcoin is a child of the great quantitative easing,” Lord Spencer said at an Centre for Policy Studies event on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference. However, he praised regulators for quickly clamping down on the cryptocurrency market amid concerns it has become a wild west that risks hurting ordinary investors.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission this week fined Kim Kardashian for promoting a cryptocurrency on social media in a high-profile example of the global crackdown.

QE – the Bank’s huge bond-buying programme aimed at helping to prop up the economy – has been blamed for inflating an array of investments.

The Bank of England built up a huge balance sheet of £895bn of bonds after

‘My feeling is Bitcoin is a child of quantitative easing – the Bank of England printed too much money’

sweeping up government and corporate debt under QE. A number of senior Tory figures have blamed QE for stoking inflation, heightening concerns about the Bank of England’s independence as it tackles rapid price rises.

Lord Spencer also warned that stamp duty on share trading is holding back the London stock market.