Bitcoin
RFK Jr. criticizes Trump over bitcoin policy
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at the Bitcoin2024 conference at the Music City Center in Nashville. | Reuters
Following rumors that he may consider ending his White House bid, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went on the offensive in Nashville on Friday, attacking former President Donald Trump and highlighting his plans to shore up the U.S. dollar with a strategic reserve of Bitcoin.
Speaking less than 24 hours before former President Trump is set to address the Bitcoin2024 Conference at Nashville’s Music City Center, Kennedy applauded Trump’s new digital currency development but urged skepticism about its legitimacy.
“I understand that tomorrow President Trump may announce his plan to build a Bitcoin Fort Knox and authorize the US government to purchase one million Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset,” Kennedy said.
“I welcome President Trump’s newfound enthusiasm for Bitcoin. But he’s only a few weeks into the Bitcoin conversation,” he said.
Touting his long history as a Bitcoin holder, Kennedy reminded the crowd of Trump’s ongoing skepticism toward Bitcoin, calling him “openly hostile” to Bitcoin in December 2020, when Americans suffered income hits due to lockdowns and declining purchasing power due to money printing during the pandemic.
“In 2021, President Trump doubled down and declared that Bitcoin looks like a scam. I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing with the dollar,” Kennedy said. “I’m glad President Trump had this evolution. I’m proud to have helped pave the way that made it easier for other political leaders to follow.”
But he warned the crowd to remain skeptical of Trump’s new stance.
“Bitcoin is about our souls. It’s about our values,” Kennedy said. “President Trump needs to explain how his personal values align with those of Bitcoiners. If he doesn’t do that, then we really have no guarantee, do we, that his support for them isn’t another monetary policy fad du jour.”
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Kennedy noted rumors that Trump may be considering JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon for Treasury secretary if elected, prompting a loud boo from the crowd. Trump said this week that he had considered Dimon or BlackRock CEO Larry Fink for that position.
Kennedy shared some criticism of the Biden administration, saying his two opponents in the presidential race “have allowed the FBI and spy agencies to suppress our right to free speech by working with social media companies to deplatform people who criticize government policies.”
He said Trump had four years to pardon Russell Griffin, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, but he didn’t.
“We need to ask ourselves why?” he said, promising to forgive all three.
Snowden spoke virtually to Bitcoin attendees shortly before Kennedy took the stage.
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Kennedy told a cheering crowd that if elected, he would sign an executive order on his first day in office to transfer the 200,000 Bitcoins held by the United States to the U.S. Treasury, to be held as a strategic reserve asset.
He also promised a second order to instruct the US Treasury to purchase 550 Bitcoins daily until the US Treasury is in possession of a reserve of 4 million Bitcoins, to bring the US Bitcoin reserve to the same proportion that the US currently holds of the world’s gold reserves.
“The cascading impacts of these actions will effectively drive Bitcoin to a valuation of hundreds of trillions of dollars,” he said.
Kennedy also promised to sign an executive order directing the IRS to treat Bitcoin as an eligible asset for 1031 exchanges for real property — making the transactions non-reportable and, by extension, non-taxable — which sparked a wave of approval from the crowd.
“Transactional freedom is as important as freedom of speech and the First Amendment,” he said, criticizing the Canadian government’s decision to freeze the bank accounts of truck drivers who protested against Canada’s vaccination mandates.
“None of these truckers were charged with anything, and yet the government was able to close their bank accounts,” he said. “They couldn’t pay their mortgages.”
Bitcoin to fix the ‘currency of hope’ system
During the campaign, Kennedy said he heard of older Americans cutting their prescription drugs in half to make them last, and others “choosing between gasoline, home heating oil and food.”
Without implementing policies to consolidate the value of the dollar — such as buying a Bitcoin standard, he said — the U.S. economy will continue to deteriorate.
“Americans today are being forced to make these purchases because our money is broken,” he said. “Bitcoin is a technology for freedom, or optimism or independence or democracy and transparency: It is the currency of hope.”
Echoing the independent base of his campaign, Kennedy promised that his loyalty would be to principles, not party, if elected.
“I don’t think of myself as red or blue or even purple — those are the colors of political parties,” he said. “Instead, I think of myself as orange — that’s the color of freedom.”
Loud applause rang out from the crowd, who rose to their feet in approval.
“It’s true that President Trump has orange hair,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “I can only admire him for that from afar. I’ll never be able to match him in that. That’s a great start. But I have an orange heart.”
Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Contact her at vjones@tennessean.com or X at @Vivian_E_Jones.