Regulation
Trump Shocks Bitcoiners, Promises Crypto-Friendly Regulation If Re-elected
Donald Trump has announced his intention to fire the SEC chairman and appoint crypto-friendly regulators if he wins the 2024 presidency, aiming to make the United States a “crypto capital.” At a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Trump pledged to form a cryptocurrency advisory council, establish a stablecoin framework, and support Bitcoin mining. His pro-crypto stance marks a significant shift, reflecting the growing political influence of the sector.
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By Teresa Xie, Stephanie Lai and Alicia Diaz
Donald Trump has said he will fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and appoint crypto-friendly regulators if he returns to the White House, in an effort to woo crypto enthusiasts and leverage the industry’s growing influence in the political arena.
“This afternoon I’m going to lay out my plan to make the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world and the Bitcoin superpower of the world, and we will do that,” Trump said at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville on Saturday.
The assembled crowd cheered loudly when Trump said he would fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, whose term does not expire until 2026. If he wins the presidency, Trump would have significant influence over the booming industry’s top regulators.
“We will have regulations, but from now on the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate it,” Trump said.
He also pledged to form a presidential advisory council for the cryptocurrency industry, create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, and called for a reduction in regulatory enforcement.
Zachary Bradford, co-founder and CEO of Bitcoin miner Cleanspark, described Trump’s speech as “a historic moment.” Trump made repeated references to miners and said that “America is going to be the undisputed Bitcoin mining powerhouse in the world.”
Change of tone
Nashville’s remarks are the latest demonstration of the former president’s embrace of the technology and his attempt to position himself as a champion of cryptocurrency interests.
Trump expressed skepticism about cryptocurrencies during his presidency, saying he was “not a fan” and that their values were “based on nothing,” but in his 2024 presidential campaign he has changed tack, increasingly highlighting Bitcoin in his wake and actively courting the cryptocurrency industry.
The shift reflects the sector’s growing importance in U.S. politics, as executives push to elect candidates with policies that support digital assets through ever-larger donations, in part through the Fairshake political action super committee, as well as Trump’s desire to reach new voters in his third presidential bid.
Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who attended the Nashville conference, said she plans to draft a bill that would require the government to create a reserve of up to 1 million bitcoins over five years. The bill would require the government to hold the cryptocurrency for 20 years, and during those two decades it could only be used to reduce the national debt.
“The goal is to recognize the fact that Bitcoin is a durable asset,” he said on the sidelines of the conference. “It is digital gold and it is a hard asset that can back the U.S. dollar and provide assurance around the world that the U.S. dollar remains worthy of being a world currency.”
Bitcoin, which had risen as much as 2.9% on Saturday before Trump’s speech, was virtually unchanged at around $68,000 by the end of his speech.
Political power
Cryptocurrency industry donors have he paid more money in the 2024 election than in all previous cycles combined, according to OpenSecrets.
Trump’s economic agenda, which promises to lower tax rates and cut government regulation, has found a receptive audience among Wall Street and business interests eager to find an alternative to the policies of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee.
The cryptocurrency industry has bristled at what it sees as heavy-handed regulation under Biden, following the collapse of the FTX exchange and other scandals. Trump has pledged to promote bitcoin mining in the United States, protect cryptocurrency self-custody and block the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency which would enter into competition with industry.
“I think it was pretty positive for the space, pretty bullish for the future,” said Paul Veradittakit, a managing partner at Pantera Capital Management who watched a livestream of Trump’s speech. He said he was “very excited that he wants America to be the crypto capital.”
Trump’s appearance at the conference comes during a frantic stretch of the 2024 race that has seen a failed assassination attempt against the former Republican president and Biden’s announcement Sunday that he would no longer seek reelection. The incumbent Democrat has endorsed Harris, 59, who is nearly two decades younger than Trump and threatens to undermine the inroads she has made with young voters and people of color.
Trump has Cryptocurrency policy discussed with Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk, according to a person familiar with the talks. He has also hosted crypto-mining executives at his Mar-a-Lago resort and vowed to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving life in prison after being convicted of running the Silk Road marketplace, where customers used virtual currencies to buy illegal drugs and hacking tools.
A digital display highlighting Trump’s keynote speech at Saturday’s Bitcoin 2024 conference.
More significantly, Trump’s campaign said in May that it would begin accepting donations in digital assets. Since then, it has raised $4 million in a mix of digital tokens, according to a campaign aide, who detailed the amount on condition of anonymity.
Among Trump’s biggest backers have been billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who run Winklevoss Capital Management and are big investors in Bitcoin. In his Nashville speech, Trump greeted the brothers by name and described them as “male models with brains.”
Both said they donated the equivalent of $1 million in cryptocurrency to a pro-Trump group, an amount that exceeded the maximum allowed. The amount exceeded the limit was returned to the brothers.
Before the speech, Trump was expected to meet with cryptocurrency industry donors on Saturday at a fundraiser where the seats It went up to $844,600Guests are expected to include the Republican nominee’s running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, who has also taken an interest in cryptocurrencies and positioned himself as an advocate for the sector.
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