Grammy award-winning music artist Akon has rebuffed Bitcoin (BTC) naysayers who claim that the asset lacks intrinsic value.

In a radio interview published on Sept. 10, Akon lambasted the perception that fiat currencies are any less vulnerable to this same critique, arguing that:

“Nothing backs the dollar. The U.S. doesn’t have natural resources that back the dollar. What they do have is the military.”

People give cryptocurrency value, not governments

Akon — who has twelve Billboard Top Ten Hits to his name, including the popular single “Smack That” — spoke out during the interview in favor of decentralization and trustless blockchain-based mechanisms that underpin the value of cryptocurrencies.

National fiat currencies have long ceased to be backed by physical commodities or natural resources, he noted, going on to argue that the United States dollar is ultimately sustained only by convention and military might.

He is bullish on cryptocurrency, he revealed, because it’s the people — not the vested interests of national governments — that wield control over their value.

The rapper’s comments come as his cryptocurrency project for a pan-African digital currency to replace fiat currencies, dubbed Akoin, gathers pace.

As Cointelegraph has previously reported, Akon had first revealed the initiative in the context of a Senegalese smart city project back in June 2018, arguing at the time that crypto can empower African citizens and bring security to the continent’s currency system.

A peace prize for Satoshi

Akon’s fresh endorsement of cryptocurrency chimes with the perspective of American investor Morgan Creek Digital Assets co-founder Anthony Pompliano, who recently argued that Satoshi Nakamoto should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for inventing Bitcoin.

Pompliano said that with Bitcoin, we finally have “a currency that can assume global reserve status without anyone having to engage in violence.”