Ron Paul On Bitcoin: 'If I Can't Put It In My Pocket, I Have Some Reservations'

Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) weighed in on Bitcoin, the controversial alternative digital currency, today onBloomberg TV with Erik Schatzker and Sara Eisen.

"To tell you the truth, it's little bit too complicated. If I can't put it in my pocket, I have some reservations about that."

Bloomberg TV interviewed Paul on a variety of topics.

Paul, who is known for being a goldbug, said he's"concerned about the erraticness of the dollar. The dollar is up, the dollar is down. We print a lot of dollars. The dollar gets devalued. That is really the concern. If people think the gold price up and down is a reflection of something wrong with gold, no, I say it is something wrong with the dollar."

Here's the transcript courtesy of Bloomberg TV:

Paul on whether he's concerned about the drop in gold:

"I am concerned about the erraticness of the dollar. The dollar is up, the dollar is down. We print a lot of dollars. The dollar gets devalued. That is really the concern. If people think the gold price up and down is a reflection of something wrong with gold, no, I say it is something wrong with the dollar. People have been expressing concerns over the past couple of months about gold, but compared to what? Compared to where gold went from when the Fed took over where it was $20 per ounce compared to what has happened in the past?...I remember in the 1970's when they finally allow people to own gold and it went from $35 to $200 rather rapidly, and then it lost 50%. Then it went up to $800. To compare a couple of months or a couple of weeks and forget about a bull market in gold price in relationship to the dollar for 12 years. I would say the comparison is not an authentic comparison. What you have to look at is the inflation. Inflation is an increased supply of money. Since 2008 they have quadrupled the supply of Federal Reserve credit and are buying $85 billion per month of treasury bills. At the same time last week they bought $60 billion. That is the inflation. That is the distortion of the market and that's why we're not getting economic growth."

On whether we're seeing the opposite of inflation right now:

"It depends on how you define it. Inflation is when you increase the supply of money. Bond prices go up. Stocks are going up. Housing prices are starting to go back up again. Education costs are going up, but the gross distortion is the effect that the inflation of the money does on the price of money and interest rates and how it causes economic problems and why you don't get economic growth. You have to look at the malinvestment and destruction that occurs when you mess around with the price of money. It's not just the CPI because the CPI is not reliable. The government fudges that as well. They change the way they measure it. Free-market economists say it is going up about 8%. A lot of deception going on out there. I was just talking to someone on getting social security, they're not happy with the purchasing power of the dollar and you can't tell me there is no inflation."

On what the real value of gold is:

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Ron Paul On Bitcoin: 'If I Can't Put It In My Pocket, I Have Some Reservations'