(Bloomberg) — Donald Trump said he would fire the Securities and Exchange Commission chair and pick crypto-friendly regulators if he returns to the White House in a bid to court virtual currency enthusiasts and harness the industry’s growing influence in the political arena.
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“This afternoon, I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world and we’ll get it done,” Trump said at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville on Saturday.
The assembled crowd cheered loudly as Trump said he would fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler, whose term is not up until 2026. If he wins the presidency, Trump would have significant sway over the top regulators for the burgeoning industry.
“We will have regulations, but from now on, the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” Trump said.
He also pledged to form a crypto industry presidential advisory council, create a stablecoin framework, and called for a scale-back in enforcement.
Zachary Bradford, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bitcoin miner Cleanspark, described Trump’s speech as “a historic moment.” Trump made repeated references to miners, and said that “America will become the world’s undisputed Bitcoin mining powerhouse.”
Tone Shift
The remarks in Nashville are the latest demonstration of how the former president has embraced the technology and sought to position himself as an advocate for crypto interests.
Trump voiced skepticism about cryptocurrencies in office, claiming he was “not a fan” and that their values were “based on thin air,” but in his 2024 presidential campaign he’s reversed course, increasingly highlighting Bitcoin on the trail and actively wooing the crypto sector.
That shift reflects the industry’s increased prominence on the US political scene as executives push to get candidates with policies supportive of digital assets elected to office through ever bigger donations, in part through the Fairshake super political action committee, as well as Trump’s desire to reach out to new voters in his third run for the presidency.
Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who attended the Nashville conference, said she plans to draft a bill requiring the government to build a stockpile of up to 1 million Bitcoin 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,” she said on the sidelines of the conference. “It’s digital gold and it’s a hard asset that can back the US dollar and provide assurance around the world that the US dollar remains worthy of being a world currency.”
Bitcoin, which rose as much as 2.9% earlier on Saturday prior to Trump’s speech, was little changed near $68,000 by the end of the speech.
Political Power
Crypto industry donors have poured more money into the 2024 election than in all prior cycles combined, according to OpenSecrets.
Trump’s economic agenda, which promises to reduce tax rates and slash government regulation, has found a receptive audience among Wall Street and business interests eager for an alternative to the policies of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee.
The crypto 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 US, protect self-custody of cryptocurrencies and prevent the Federal Reserve from issuing a central-bank digital currency that would compete with the industry.
“I think it was pretty positive for the industry, pretty bullish going forward,” said Paul Veradittakit, a managing partner at Pantera Capital Management who watched a live stream of Trump’s speech. He said he was “most excited about him wanting America to be the crypto capital.”
Trump’s appearance at the conference comes during a frenetic stretch of the 2024 race that saw a failed assassination attempt against the Republican former president and on Sunday Biden’s announcement that he would not longer seek reelection. The Democratic incumbent endorsed Harris, 59, who is nearly two decades younger than Trump and threatens to undercut the inroads he has made with young voters and people of color.
Trump has discussed cryptocurrency policy with Tesla Inc. chief executive officer Elon Musk, according to a person familiar with the talks. He’s also hosted crypto-mining executives at his Mar-a-Lago resort and vowed to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, who is serving a life sentence after he was convicted of running the Silk Road marketplace, where customers used virtual currencies to buy illegal drugs and hacker tools.
Most significantly, Trump’s campaign said in May that it would begin accepting donations in digital assets. Since then, it has raised $4 million from a mix of digital tokens, according to a campaign aide, who detailed the amount on condition of anonymity.
Among Trump’s prominent contributors have been billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who run Winklevoss Capital Management and are large investors in Bitcoin. In his Nashville speech, Trump hailed the brothers by name and described them as “looking like male models with a brain.”
Both said they donated the equivalent of $1 million of the cryptocurrency to a pro-Trump group — an amount which exceeded the maximum allowed. The amount over the limit was refunded to the brothers.
Prior to the speech, Trump was slated to meet with crypto industry donors on Saturday at a fundraiser where seats went for up to $844,600. Guests are expected to include the Republican nominee’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who has also taken an interest in cryptocurrency and positioned himself as a supporter of the sector.
—With assistance from Bill Allison, Olga Kharif and Michael P. Regan.
(Updates with additional quotes from Trump’s speech and reaction from crypto industry participants.)
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