The Republican presidential candidate recently said he wants to become the “crypto president,” serving the 50 million Americans who own cryptocurrencies. Trump is also scheduled to speak today at the “Bitcoin 2024” event in Nashville, a conference that brings together crypto enthusiasts.
Trump’s choice of Jay D. Vance as his vice presidential running mate is also linked to cryptocurrencies. Vance, 39, who rose to fame with his autobiography Hillbilly Elegy, claimed to have the equivalent of $100,000 in bitcoin during his 2021 Senate campaign in Ohio.
“The Republican Party even included cryptocurrencies in its platform – a major milestone for our industry – with a simple idea: to enable this transformative technology to thrive in America,” said Christine Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association.
Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appointed by Joe Biden, has taken concrete steps to regulate the world of cryptocurrencies, which he says resembles the “Wild West.” Under Gensler, the SEC has doubled the size of its staff responsible for overseeing cryptocurrencies, which now consists of 50 people.
He has also stepped up investigations into several niche cryptocurrency companies and imposed multibillion-dollar fines. He has also called for cryptocurrencies to be subject to a stricter regime than before.
But even Trump, until recently, was against cryptocurrencies. In a 2019 tweet, then-President Trump said he was “not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies,” pointing to their high volatility, lack of value and facilitation of illegal activities such as drug trafficking.
In an interview with Fox Business in 2021, Trump did not hesitate to call bitcoin a “fraud” and a “threat to the supremacy of the dollar.”
The “melody” has changed
But now, as he seeks to shore up support for his reelection campaign, Trump has begun to change his tune. In June, he met with bitcoin mining professionals at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. He promised them that if he won the election, he would implement policies that would favor the mining industry on American soil. “Donald Trump has done a 180-degree turnaround on cryptocurrencies, and his current position lacks nuance: He only talks about the benefits, without ever talking about the potential risks,” notes Herming Wang, a former SEC official who is now general counsel for the startups web3 and cryptoassets.
“However, he is at odds with Democrats who only see the negative sides of cryptocurrencies. Trump’s strategy makes sense in this regard and allows him to raise funds from the crypto community for his campaign,” Wong explains. The Republican Party’s campaign platform also now proposes, for the first time, the adoption of pro-crypto policies.
“We will defend the right to mine bitcoin and ensure that every American has the right to own and trade their own digital assets without government surveillance and control,” the Republican platform states.
Donald Trump’s attempts at seduction have not gone unnoticed in the industry. However, a survey conducted by the Crypto Council for Innovation showed (before Kamala Harris’ candidacy) that 51% of cryptocurrency holders were ready to vote for Donald Trump.
Also in the first quarter of the year, Trump’s campaign raised $3 million worth of cryptocurrencies, mostly bitcoin and ether. Several prominent figures in the crypto space, including Elon Musk, have also come out in support of Trump. “It seems likely that a second Trump administration would be much more open to cryptocurrencies than Biden, who has pursued aggressive regulatory action at federal agencies,” said Blockchain Association CEO Christine Smith.