Trump says the US will become the “crypto capital of the planet.” Why? It’s the donations, stupid. Bitcoin reacts with big yawn.
To the Moon!
Investing.Com reports Trump says Bitcoin is going to the moon, will hold it as a strategic reserve asset
Former President Donald Trump expressed strong support for Bitcoin, stating that if reelected, he would incorporate Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset for the United States.
During his keynote speech at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Trump emphasized that the real threat to the US Dollar’s dominance is not Bitcoin but rather policy decisions from Washington DC.
In a series of declarations, Trump also announced his intention to direct the Treasury Department to cease efforts in developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
He labeled Bitcoin as “not just a marvel of technology but a miracle of cooperation and human achievement,” and promised to end what he calls the ‘persecution’ of the cryptocurrency sector under his potential future presidency.
Moreover, Trump declared he would dismiss the current Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman, Gary Gensler, on his first day in office.
His comments suggest a complete reversal of the current administration’s stance on cryptocurrency regulation and oversight.
Rounding out his pro-cryptocurrency stance, Trump predicted that Bitcoin’s market capitalization could surpass that of gold and called for the United States to become the “crypto capital of the planet,” signaling a significant shift in policy towards digital currencies if he were to win the presidential election.
Trump Adds Crypto to His ‘America First’ Agenda
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Adds Crypto to His ‘America First’ Agenda
The Republican presidential candidate was the keynote speaker Saturday at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville where he courted about 20,000 die-hard bitcoin believers and industry executives.
Trump said the reason he addressed the conference could be summed up in two words: America First. “If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and made in the USA,” he said.
The former president made a series of promises to the industry in his 50-minute speech.
If elected president, Trump said he intends to create a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile” where the government would keep the tokens it holds or acquires. The crypto industry has long hoped that the U.S. would establish a bitcoin reserve comparable to its gold reserve to lend legitimacy to the cryptocurrency and stabilize its price.
The U.S. government currently holds some 164,000 bitcoins seized from cybercriminals and darknet markets, a stash worth about $8.8 billion at current market value, according to an analysis of public filings by crypto firm 21.co.
The most thunderous applause of the afternoon came when Trump pledged to fire Gary Gensler—the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who has waged a sweeping crackdown on the crypto industry—on his first day in office. (Whether Trump could immediately remove Gensler is legally questionable. The SEC chair was appointed in 2021, and his term doesn’t expire until 2026.)
Trump has increasingly cast himself as a supporter of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. That marks an about-face from his presidency when he said digital assets were based on “thin air.” His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, is a longtime crypto advocate who held more than $100,000 in bitcoin as of 2022, his latest financial disclosures show.
On the campaign trail and his social-media platform, Trump has championed bitcoin-mining in the U.S., an energy-intensive process in which computers guess random numbers in the hopes of unlocking new bitcoins. He has also sworn to “end Joe Biden’s war on crypto,” a nod to the dozens of lawsuits Gensler’s SEC has filed against exchanges and other companies that have galvanized crypto leaders to get involved in politics.
Kamala Harris, the expected Democratic nominee and a California native, has close ties to Silicon Valley and could also make a push for the crypto industry’s support. Her advisers reached out to Coinbase and Ripple in recent days in an effort to reset relations, according to people familiar with the matter. Harris has yet to publicly discuss crypto at much length.
Big Yawn
Bitcoin’s reaction to the announcement has so far been a big yawn. It failed to take out the high yesterday.
I struggle to see what independents and fence-sitters this announcement can possibly bring in.
Then again, perhaps it’s aimed at something else, namely big donations from Silicon Valley.