Balaji Srinivasan, former Coinbase chief technology officer, raised the alarm on the US Federal Reserve's monetary policies by paying out $1,500,000 to close his long shot bet on Bitcoin. Srinivasan had placed a million-dollar bet back in March 2021 that Bitcoin would surge to $1 million in just 90 days, which was not realized as bitcoin is currently trading at around $28,614. Nevertheless, Srinivasan declared that his main intention was to ‘raise public alarm’ regarding the Fed’s strategies and to prove that he was not ‘just burning a million bucks for the sake of it’.

Srinivasan was concerned about the effects of reckless monetary policy on the US economy, citing the 2008 financial crisis as an example. He also felt that the US Federal Reserve wasn’t transparent in explaining the macroeconomic effects of their fiscal strategies. To bring attention to his cause, he publicly declared his bet and aimed to close it before its initial expiry date. The bet was concluded with him donating $500,000 to Bitcoin Core's development, $500,000 to the charity Give Directly and $500,000 to the Medlock Foundation. As a result, the total given was $1,500,000 which was more than expected.

Thus, Srinivasan successfully drew attention to the deficiencies in the US Federal Reserve’s fiscal policies. Through this spectacular move, he sought to inform people about the potential risks of a system that does not value transparency and accountability. Therefore, Srinivasan has served as a prime example of how people are speaking out against the current macroeconomic system and the risks it brings.



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