Ethereum
“Each of you will disappear”
NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump vowed to maintain a “strategic national bitcoin reserve” and “never sell” bitcoin seized by the government in a freewheeling speech that tightened the Republican candidate’s grip on the nation. on the crypto voting and fundraising block.
Before the event, there had been speculation and hope Among crypto fans, Trump would announce such a reserve.
Speaking to a packed house Saturday before more than 3,000 attendees at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Trump said of bitcoin, “I want it mined, minted and manufactured in the United States.” He went on to outline a “comprehensive” crypto policy that ranges from regulating stablecoins to allowing people to hold their own bitcoins.
The speech capped bitcoin’s steady march from the deepest recesses of the internet to the heart of American politics — once the reviled currency of choice for darknet markets.
“If we don’t do it, China will,” he said of digital asset adoption. Cryptocurrency is “the steel industry of 100 years ago, you’re still in your infancy,” he said. “One day it will probably surpass gold. … There’s never been anything like it.”
He added that keeping Democrats in the White House would be a disaster for cryptocurrency. “If they win this election, every single one of you will be gone. They will be vicious. They will be ruthless. They will do things you wouldn’t imagine.”
If elected, Trump said his first-day plans included firing Gary Gensler, the influential chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who is widely reviled in the cryptocurrency industry. The promise drew huge applause from the crowd. “I didn’t know he was that “unpopular,” Trump said. Trump also said he would appoint a “bitcoin and cryptocurrency advisory board” upon taking office.
Trump arrived at Nashville’s Music City Center after a major campaign fundraiser that targeted deep-pocketed cryptocurrency executives and raised tens of millions of dollars, sources said. Thousands of bitcoiners camped out for hours to see the former president, a recent convert to crypto after previously criticizing digital assets. He is now the first president to appear at a Bitcoin event.
In the opening minutes, he thanked the event organizers and said there were a lot of legends in the room. Trump cited several figures in the cryptocurrency industry, including Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the founders of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, and Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy.
Cryptocurrency exploded onto the 2024 election agenda in late May, when Trump declared himself the industry’s candidate and said, “If you’re in favor of cryptocurrency, you’re going to vote for Trump because they want to end it.”
His support accelerated a partisan realignment within the crypto industry’s upper echelons. Suddenly, well-connected voters—hedge fund lawyers, startup founders, and financial backers—who had previously voted Democratic began whispering that they were backing Trump as a remedy to years of perceived bullying by President Joe Biden’s regulatory state.
They were joined at the three-day conference by droves of die-hard Trump fans who packed into Nashville in colorful hats emblazoned with “Make Bitcoin Great Again.” For many of the 20,000 attendees, supporting Trump seemed like a no-brainer. As it turns out, he was now also supporting bitcoin.
Behind the scenes in Nashville, industry executives rewarded Trump’s change of heart with massive campaign funding; a fundraiser just before his speech asked for nearly $900,000 per ticket. Other low-profile candidates in Nashville held their own fundraisers.
Cryptocurrency advocates see the 2024 election as their best chance to reshape the United States’ hostile regulations; many see Trump as the candidate best positioned to do so, despite his earlier stance during his presidency that bitcoin was “based on hot air.”
Ever the marketer, after leaving the White House, Trump released successful NFT collections depicting himself in various states of patriotism. Their millions of dollars in revenue gave the businessman a different perspective on the industry he had once rejected.
Before Biden dropped out of the race, his campaign made no effort to court crypto fans or Bitcoiners, at one point calling Trump’s NFT buyers “suckers.” After years of legal wrangling from Biden’s appointee Gensler (who insists the industry largely flouts U.S. law), Biden’s message was the final straw for many in the crypto sector.
The rise of Vice President Kamala Harris could give Democrats a chance to reposition themselves. Some lawmakers are pushing her for change. But the likely Democratic presidential nominee has yet to deliver on her promises.
“She’s against cryptocurrency, by the way, and she’s very much against it. You need to get out and vote,” Trump said.