Regulation
Trump Proposes National Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve at Bitcoin Conference
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the stage after speaking at a campaign rally at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump said that if he returned to the White House, he would make sure the federal government never sells its bitcoin holdings. But he stopped short of proposing a formal federal reserve of the digital currency.
“For too long, our government has violated the fundamental rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said in his keynote speech at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, the largest bitcoin conference of the year.
The former president’s statements have arrived as the race to capture the votes and campaign funds of America’s top fintech users becomes the focus of the 2024 presidential election.
“This afternoon I will lay out my plan to ensure that the United States becomes the cryptocurrency capital of the planet and the world’s bitcoin superpower, and we will do it,” Trump said.
However, Trump’s pledge to simply keep existing bitcoins held by the U.S. government was a less radical approach to the cryptocurrency public than other proposals presented at the conference.
Third party candidate by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.For example, during his speech at the Bitcoin Conference on Friday he promised to launch a reserve of 4 million bitcoins, starting with the bitcoin reserves that the U.S. government has already accumulated from criminal seizures. Kennedy said he would require the government to buy 550 bitcoins a day until the reserve reaches 4 million.
Shortly after Trump’s speech, Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis read her legislative proposal to build an official U.S. federal reserve of 1 million bitcoins over five years.
“It will be held for a minimum of 20 years and can only be used for one purpose: to reduce our debt,” Lummis said.
Bitcoin price dropped briefly during Trump’s speech, but recovered and rose slightly for the day, as of 5:15 p.m. ET
In his speech, the former president sought to highlight the contrasts between the Republican Party’s growing adoption of cryptocurrencies and the hardline regulatory approach that has characterized the Biden administration.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies and bitcoin is wrong and very bad for our country,” Trump said. “Let me tell you, if they win this election, every single one of you will go. They will be vicious. They will be ruthless. They will do things you wouldn’t believe.”
Trump then listed off a series of cryptocurrency-friendly promises to a crowd of enthusiastic bitcoin supporters, vowing to dismantle what he called President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s “anti-crypto crusade.”
“On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler,” Trump said, referring to Biden’s nominee. Securities and Exchange Commission which has taken an aggressive approach to cryptocurrency regulation.
The president does not have the power to fire appointed commissioners. Even if Trump were to appoint a new SEC chairman, Gensler would remain an independent agency commissioner.
The former president also pledged to create a “presidential advisory council on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.”
“The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate it,” Trump said.
The Republican presidential candidate also held a fundraiser in Nashville, with tickets reaching a high of $844,600In June, the CEO of BTC Inc. David Baileywho organized the conference, pledged to raise $100 million and get more than 5,000,000 people to vote to support Trump’s re-election, as the bitcoin industry increasingly turns to the Trump camp for support.
Trump’s ascent to the main stage to directly address the bitcoin community is the latest in a months-long campaign to appeal to the cryptocurrency contingent, including accept donations in virtual tokenspledging to end President Joe Biden’s “war on cryptocurrency” and arguing that All future bitcoins will be produced in AmericaThis is also a nice about-face by the Republican presidential candidate.
Trump has been publicly rejected Bitcoin when he was in the White House. In July 2019said he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He said the tokens were not money, that their value was “based on nothing” and warned that unregulated cryptocurrencies could help facilitate drug trafficking, among “other illegal activities.”
“Bitcoin just seems like a scam,” he told Fox in a phone interview in 2021. “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing with the dollar.”
“I want the dollar to be the currency of the world, that’s what I’ve always said,” Trump continued in his conversation with Fox.
But five years later, a lost presidential election and millions of dollars from the cryptocurrency lobby, the Republican presidential candidate has sung the praises of digital currency to the the largest bitcoin conference of the year in Nashville, which began Thursday.
“Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty, and independence from government coercion and control,” Trump said in his keynote address.
Trump’s shift on bitcoin comes as the Republican Party pledges to reduce red tape in the Biden-Harris administration, pledging to make cryptocurrency regulation a top issue on the ballot in November, especially as inflation consistently ranks as a top voter priority in polls.
As cryptocurrency lobbyists and advocates become increasingly present in Washington, the question arises as to whether the Democratic Party will ditch the hardline regulatory approach of recent years or ease its stance.
“Every presidential candidate has to understand that the pro-innovation, pro-digital asset voters are here to stay,” Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told CNBC in an interview, adding that cryptocurrency regulation should not become a “partisan political football.”
“I want this to remain a bipartisan issue. I don’t want Donald Trump to politicize this issue,” said Rep. Nickel.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, echoed Rep. Nickel’s sentiment, saying that cryptocurrencies should not become a partisan talking point, but will require regulation like any technology.
“I don’t understand why he’s partisan. Being against Bitcoin is like being against cell phones. It’s like being against AI. It’s like being against laptops,” Khanna told CNBC. “It’s a technology. You have to have thoughtful regulation of technology, but it’s a technology that’s gone from about $10,000 to $80,000.”
Representatives Khanna and Nickel were two of the few Democrats to attend the Bitcoin Conference.
Bitcoin Conference 2024 Organizers say they were briefly in talks to have Vice President Kamala Harris appear at the conference, though she ultimately declined. But billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban wrote in X that Harris’s campaign had reached out to her with questions about cryptocurrency, so it appears the vice president is exploring this space and potentially trying to figure out where her policies might go if elected president.
“I think we’ll hear from Vice President Harris on this very soon. And I’m very optimistic that we’ll have a reset. And I think that’s going to be very important,” Rep. Nickel said. “This issue is not going anywhere. And we need to make sure that we continue to embrace it in a bipartisan way.”
Harris’ team has already started reaching out to people close to cryptocurrency companies to arrange meetings, Financial Times reported Saturday.
Trump Changes His Mind About Bitcoin
Trump’s recent thaw in sentiment toward the digital assets sector has coincided with a sudden influx of interest and money from the country’s top tech talent.
It has raised more than $4 million in a mix of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC, and various memecoins, with backers from 12 states, including some on the fence.
Cryptocurrency billionaire twins and venture capitalists Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss led the effort, each contributing 15.57 bitcoin, or just over $1 million at the time of the donation, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission, though they received a partial refund after their contributions exceeded the $844,600 limit.
There are also many other crypto-friendly venture capitalists who have pledged millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign.
Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz he told the employees of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) who plan to make significant donations to political action committees supporting Trump’s campaign. Sequoia Capital partners are backing Trump, as is venture investor David Sacchiwho helped the former president raise $12 million at a fundraiser he hosted at his home in San Francisco. The legal officers for the centralized cryptocurrency exchange Monetary base and blockchain giant Ripple they were both there.
These members of the tech elite are also contributing significantly to pro-crypto super PACs like Fairshake, which has raised more than $200 million to elect pro-crypto candidates on all ballots and on both sides of the aisle.
But reporting from NBC News finds the vice president’s team is trying to rally support from some of tech’s big wavering donors, many of whom have sat out while President Joe Biden has remained in the race. Their tone may change now that the vice president is the de facto party nominee.
It is an advantage that Harris has extensive experience in California.
For years he has been raising funds in the technology community, including from those who work at Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft AND Apple.
“The shift that has occurred in the last three days is dramatic,” said Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and one-time candidate for governor of California, told NBC News“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such enthusiasm in any of the campaigns I’ve been involved in.”
This comes as Trump’s running mate for vice president, J.D. Vance, is set to host a fundraiser in Palo Alto on Monday.
— CNBC’s Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this story.
