Regulation
At Bitcoin Conference, Trump Vows to Fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler If He Wins
Published on July 27, 2024 at 8:51 PM EST.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — At Bitcoin 2024, former President Donald Trump unveiled an ambitious pro-Bitcoin and pro-cryptocurrency agenda that energized the crowd, while also attacking his opponent, current vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, over the Biden administration’s cryptocurrency policies.
“I pledge to the Bitcoin community that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ anti-cryptocurrency crusade will be over,” said Trump, now the first former US president to address an audience at a Bitcoin event anywhere in the world.
Trump made his historic announcement in front of a packed conference room that conference organizer and CEO of Bitcoin Magazine David Bailey estimated could accommodate 8,000 attendees, with tens of thousands, perhaps even more than 100,000, streaming live.
Trump has made numerous other promises, including establishing a presidential advisory council to develop transparent regulatory guidance in his first 100 days in office and using the U.S. government’s existing bitcoin reserve to form a “strategic national bitcoin reserve,” among others.
Reading from a teleprompter and occasionally rambling, he said, in a closing statement that seemed to take direct aim at the Biden administration’s approach to cryptocurrency: “My promise to each of you is this. I will be our pro-innovation, pro-bitcoin president that America needs and our citizens deserve. … Our nation has never prospered by trying to censor new ideas and shut down the dreams of our people. America always plants its flag on the next frontier and boldly pushes forward.”
Trump’s promise to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on his first day in office drew the loudest applause during the former president’s speech.
“On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler and appoint a new chairman of the SEC,” Trump said, prompting thunderous applause and the entire crowd to rise to its feet.
“I didn’t know it was That unpopular! Wow,” he said, seemingly shocked. “I didn’t know that was That “unpopular,” he repeated, astonished. “Let me say that again.” There were roars from the crowd.
“On day one, I’m going to fire Gary Gensler,” he repeated. When the crowd stood and applauded loudly again, he said, “Whoa!”
The participants started singing.
“I will nominate a new SEC chairman who believes America should build the future, not block it,” Trump said.
To know more: Trump has made promises to cryptocurrency voters. If elected, what could he actually do?
Biden Administration’s Anti-Cryptocurrency Policy Blame Falls on Harris
During his speech, Trump sought to pit the audience against his likely opponent, Vice President Harris, equating her with the Biden administration’s hostile stance toward cryptocurrencies.
Speaking about her, he said: “She is against cryptocurrencies, by the way, and very much so. It’s no surprise that these totalitarians are hellbent on killing cryptocurrencies. We have the SEC, they are wiping out bitcoin, because bitcoin represents freedom, sovereignty, independence from government and coercion from control. The Biden and Harris administration’s crackdown on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is wrong and it’s pretty un-American.”
To know more: Senator Tim Scott Goes All-In on Bitcoin, Paving the Way for 2025 Cryptocurrency Legislation
In addition to firing Gensler, Trump’s most notable promises included the acquisition of the 210,000 bitcoins seized by the government. He promised that the coins currently held would be used to create a fund that would act as the nation’s strategic reserve.
Although there were rumors that he would order the Federal Reserve to buy one million bitcoins, in his next speech to Trump, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) revealed just such a plan in a bill to be introduced into Congress.
Trump also vowed to end what the crypto industry has called Operation Choke Point 2.0, which appears to have been an effort that began in late 2022 or early 2023 to shut down banks that serviced cryptocurrency firms or prevent cryptocurrency firms from being able to conduct banking activities. For example, Barney Frank, a co-author of the Dodd-Frank Act, said that the closure of Signature Bank occurred because “regulators wanted to send a very strong anti-crypto message.”
To know more: Law firm’s white paper suggests US regulators are waging financial war on cryptocurrencies
Trump vowed to shut down Operation Choke Point 2.0, complaining, “They want to strangle you, they want to strangle you out of business.”
He contrasted Operation Choke Point 2.0 with his plan to establish a “Presidential Advisory Council on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency” to design transparent regulation for cryptocurrencies, saying, “We will have regulations, but from now on the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate it.” He said the council would design “transparent regulatory guidance” within the first 100 days of Trump’s inauguration, should he win.
More Promises for Cryptocurrency Faithful
Other promises he has made include ensuring that the United States becomes the world capital of bitcoin mining, abolishing any plans to implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC), establishing effective stablecoin legislation, and upholding the right to self-custody.
“I am laying out my plan to ensure that the United States becomes the cryptocurrency capital of the planet and the world’s Bitcoin superpower,” Trump said.
The former president also doubled down on his push for the pardon of Ross Ulbricht, who is currently serving a life sentence for creating and operating the infamous dark web marketplace Silk Road, which was shut down by the FBI in 2013 for facilitating the buying and selling of illegal drugs and other contraband.
Trump’s speech at the Bitcoin conference comes on the same day as the Financial Times reported that Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is seeking a “reset” with cryptocurrency firms. According to the FT, the vice president’s campaign has reached out to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, stablecoin issuer Circle, and cross-border payments firm Ripple Labs, to send the message that Democrats are “pro-business, pro-responsible business,” a person familiar with her campaign told the FT.
Also on Saturday, a group of 28 Democratic officials, candidates and members of state legislatures, including well-known pro-crypto Democrats like Ro Khanna, Ritchie Torres and Wylie Nickel, published a letter to Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, urging him and potential presidential candidates to “take a forward-thinking approach to digital assets and blockchain technology.”
Both moves on the same day show that cryptocurrency as a campaign issue has reached the political high water mark, with Democrats scrambling to make up ground after three and a half years of unfair treatment of the cryptocurrency industry by the SEC under Biden Chairman Gary Gensler.
To know more: Why Rep. Ro Khanna Hopes the Democratic Party Will Adopt Cryptocurrencies
The Bitcoin 2024 Conference had already drawn a huge crowd, but Trump’s appearance caused it to spill over the venue. The nearby streets were packed with onlookers, including one family who drove four hours just to watch the motorcade pass by because it would be “as close to the President as you can get.”
However, not everyone waiting outside in the heat was a fan, with one woman watching the march and making an obscene gesture at Trump and someone standing outside the convention center with a sign that read, “Trump is the Antichrist.”