Benzinga | Apr 9, 2021 09:13AM EDT

Palantir's Joe Lonsdale Responds To PayPal's Peter Thiel's Comments On Bitcoin: Says Bitcoin Is A 'Force For Freedom'

Peter Thiel made headlines with comments he made at a virtual event for members of the Richard Nixon Foundation on Wednesday. Thiel wondered if Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) should be thought of as a "Chinese financial weapon" against the U.S. at this point, adding that bitcoin could be a threat to the U.S. dollar.

"Even though I'm a pro-crypto, pro-Bitcoin maximalist person, I do wonder whether if at this point Bitcoin should also be thought of in part as a Chinese financial weapon against the U.S." says @Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel.

More on cryptocurrencies from The #NixonSeminar: pic.twitter.com/sIUQTQEWgr

-- Richard Nixon Foundation (@nixonfoundation) April 7, 2021

Related Link: Apple, Google, Bitcoin Acting Against US Interests And In Favor Of China, Says Peter Thiel

Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Joe Lonsdale, founding partner at 8VC and co-founder of Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR), was asked about the comments that Thiel, who is also a Palantir co-founder, made during the virtual event.

"It is very interesting to see that China is the first mover in the crypto-world in terms of their government working with [bitcoin] and they definitely could use that in ways that are antagonistic," Lonsdale told CNBC.

Lonsdale said he is very pro-bitcoin and that it is a "force for freedom." In the future, "you are going to want currency to work on the blockchain."

Lonsdale followed up by saying it makes sense for the U.S. to have its own cryptocurrency and if the government doesn't take any action, the U.S. dollar could become irrelevant in 20 or 30 years.

See also: How to Buy Palantir Technologies (PLTR) Stock

BTC Price Action: Bitcoin is up 98.34% year-to-date, and was up 3.15% to $57,716.80 at last check Thursday.

(Photo: Dmitry Demidko via Unsplash)