Trump to Fire Gensler. In a barnstorming speech to the assembled crypto enthusiasts at the Bitcoin 2024 Nashville conference, former President Donald Trump solidified his position as Bitcoin’s ally with a string of significant pronouncements, including adding crypto to the government’s reserves.
“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,” declared Donald Trump at Saturday’s Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Trump boldly declared, “On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler,” to the enthusiastic applause of the 5,000-strong audience. I swear to the Bitcoin community that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s anti-crypto crusade will end the day I take the oath of office,” he concluded.
Trump: crypto rules “will be written by people who love your industry”
According to Trump, “We will have regulations, but from now on, the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.” This comment is sure to give financial regulators around the world the willies. He clarified that US banking regulators should tone down their enforcement efforts.
He promised to end “repression” by drawing parallels between his brushes with the police and the struggles of the cryptocurrency business. If you dare to say the election was rigged, “they slander you as criminals, but that happened to me, too,” Trump remarked.
In his extensive speech, he said his government would establish a presidential advisory council for the cryptocurrency industry. This move aligns with Republican efforts at the state level to establish legislation prohibiting the use of a CBDC on privacy concerns. He also stated that the Fed would not be allowed to create one.
Stablecoin regulations would also be ushered in under the Trump administration. Wall Street’s wiser and more strategic thinkers may try to rein in some of Trump’s “rip up all the rules” rhetoric in its policy-making manifestations after realizing that regulation is necessary for crypto to attain widespread adoption.
Trump is planning a national Bitcoin hoard
Trump to Fire Gensler: According to the former president’s announcement, a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile” would first consist of the 210,000 BTC owned by the Department of Justice. He is running for reelection in November. He was evasive when asked if the government should “seize and hold” cryptocurrency from criminals or add to the pile by purchasing Bitcoin on the open market.
Trump says never sell bitcoin, which might surpass gold’s market cap
“Never sell your bitcoin,” Trump urged fearlessly, and he predicted that bitcoin’s market valuation may eventually exceed gold’s. The value proposition of Bitcoin has long been supported by the ‘digital gold’ notion.
Regardless of the presidential election outcome, Trump’s “Never sell” will likely help put a floor under the price of Bitcoin, even if it hasn’t recovered enough to recapture the $70,000 level yet.
Attendees at the seminar also included Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis. The politician has come clean about working on a bill that would mandate the government accumulate one million bitcoins (BTC) over five years. At least twenty years would elapse before the government could keep the bitcoin. During that period, the only legal use of bitcoin was to reduce the US national debt.
Cantor Fitzgerald launches $2 billion Bitcoin loan program
At the same time, Howard Lutnick, CEO of the financial services behemoth Cantor Fitzgerald, said the company would launch a $2 billion lending program to fund Bitcoin. Leverage will be available to clients that have bitcoin. A Bloomberg article states that the company will partner with some Bitcoin storage providers to offer loans.
Lutnick, using strong language, stated that the corporation has a “shedload of bitcoin”—yet another indicator of the institutional shift toward crypto assets. For this election cycle, Cantor Fitzgerald has given $1.4 million to political action committees that support Trump. Trump will be the honoree at a fundraiser hosted by the CEO in August.
The infamously pro-crypto former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who escaped to Russia after disclosing government surveillance data, was among the other keynote speakers at the conference. Even Snowden could have said, “Cast a vote but don’t join a cult,” in response to Trump’s evangelism.
Harris is knowledgeable, but are Dems adopting crypto?
Earlier in the week, speculation circulated that Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, would give a speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. However, this did not materialize.
Trump to Fire Gensler: Though many in the crypto business view the Democrats’ posture as antagonistic, Mark Cuban has shown that they have approached him and others in the crypto world to reset the party’s stance. A more “pro-innovation” stance on cryptocurrency is believed to be Harris’s preference, and her close ties to Silicon Valley are to be anticipated from a senator from California.
Democratic senator Wiley Nickel of North Carolina publicly demanded a crypto reset while attending the festival. He is among several Democrats who have written to the DNC, requesting that a Harris administration “select a pro-innovation SEC chair.”
While Nickel did receive a small round of respectful applause for his remarks, the crowd erupted in boos when he brought up Trump’s anti-bitcoin stance from his presidency, in which the president called cryptocurrency “a scam” and “based on thin air.” Trump was “full of shit” when it came to cryptocurrency, he said, doubling down.
Crypto’s “historical moment”: bitcoin miners back Trump campaign
The $4 million in cryptocurrency that Trump’s campaign has received was reported two days ago. Now, that amount might be substantially higher. “Trump is a businessman and an entrepreneur, and he sees the opportunity that bitcoin affords the US and himself,” said Brandon Green, chief of staff at the conference, regarding Trump’s Damoclean conversion. For reasons that should be readily apparent, many in the cryptocurrency industry, including those involved in Bitcoin mining, are rallying behind the Trump campaign.
“A historic moment” was how Cleanspark CEO Zachary Bradford described Trump’s address. Several mining executives have gathered at Trump’s Florida property, and the president has expressed his intention to restrict bitcoin mining to the United States. That “America will become the world’s undisputed Bitcoin mining powerhouse” was Bradford’s prediction.
Bitcoin pricing rangebound as Trump campaign stalls
On the other hand, market reaction has been more muted than anticipated. Despite a brief surge above $69,000, Bitcoin trades at $67,380. Reasons for the lackluster reaction include the fact that the price had already factored in the news, and, more importantly, the “Trump trade” does not appear to be as sure a wager as it was when Joe Biden was Trump’s presidential opponent.
Although it is still within the margin of error, Harris is gaining ground on Trump and has even surpassed him in certain surveys. While PredictIt puts Trump at 54/49 and Harris at 39 in its crypto-powered prediction market, Polymarket has them at 57 and 39, respectively.
