Trump courts Bitcoin and cryptocurrency fans to win votes and donations

Article information

• Author, Brandon Livesay
• Function, BBC News

• July 27, 2024

Donald Trump said at one of the biggest cryptocurrency events of the year that if he is re-elected president, he will fire the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on day one.

Trump was the keynote speaker at Bitcoin 2024 on Saturday, a gathering of industry heavyweights in Nashville, Tennessee.

The Republican presidential candidate used the event to court voters and encourage campaign donations from the tech community.

Cryptocurrency has emerged as a political battleground for Republicans, with Trump claiming that the Democratic Party and Vice President Kamala Harris were “against cryptocurrency.”

The crowd was most excited when Trump declared, “On Day One, I will fire Gary Gensler,” the SEC chairman appointed by current President Joe Biden. The crowd cheered loudly and began chanting “Trump” at that statement.

SEC files charges against “Cryptocurrency King” Sam Bankman-Friedwho was sentenced to 25 years for stealing billions of dollars from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

Speaking for about 45 minutes, Trump outlined some of his ideas for the sector if he wins the November election. He said he would make the U.S. the cryptocurrency capital of the world. His support for the industry is a 180-degree turnaround from his comments in 2021, when he told Fox Business that he saw Bitcoin as a “fraud” affecting the value of the US dollar.

Trump told the crowd at the event that he would keep 100% of the Bitcoin that the US government currently holds or acquires, adding that it would be a “national stockpile of Bitcoin.”

The former president also said he would “immediately appoint a presidential advisory council on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.”

He spoke about the energy required to mine cryptocurrencies. “You need tremendous amounts of electricity,” he said, adding that he would build power plants “to do that” and would be “using fossil fuels.”

There has been growing support among some tech leaders for Trump’s presidential campaign in recent months. Tesla founder Elon Musk, who is the world’s richest person, has endorsed Trump. And crypto moguls the Winklevoss twins, who were at Saturday’s speech, have also rallied behind him.

Trump mentioned that his campaign accepts cryptocurrency donations, saying that in the two months since allowing cryptocurrency transactions, he has received $25 million (£20 million) in donations. However, he did not say how much of the payments were in cryptocurrency.

Trump used his speech to frame cryptocurrency regulation as a partisan issue, saying the Biden administration was “anti-crypto.”

Several Republican lawmakers also attended Trump’s speech, including Senators Tim Scott and Tommy Tuberville. Former Republican presidential candidate and Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy was also there.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Democratic Party lawmakers Wiley Nickel and Ro Khanna also spoke at the event.

Earlier on Bitcoin 2024, Democratic Congressman Nickel said that Kamala Harris was taking a “forward-looking approach to digital assets and blockchain technology.”

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