Taking stock of Trump’s crypto political and business circle: Real support or political show?

24-07-16 17:49

Read this article in 14 Minutes

Original title: "Selling Trump: The Former President's Cryptocurrency Business Friends and "Business Skills""

Original author: Mia, ChainCatcher

At 18:11 on July 13, Eastern Time, former US President Trump, a popular figure in the election, was attacked at a presidential election rally in Pennsylvania. With the sound of several gunshots, the voices of Trump winning the election reached an unprecedented height.

As the suspense of the US election gradually became clear, the assassination incident also became a catalyst for market trends. Cryptocurrency rebounded immediately, quickly breaking through 60,000 US dollars, and once rushed to 65,000 US dollars.

Two days after the assassination attempt, Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that he would choose Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential candidate. Vance has been a long-time supporter of crypto and has publicly disclosed owning over $200,000 in crypto assets. He appreciates the freedom that cryptocurrencies offer through their censorship-resistant properties. The nomination of Vance has undoubtedly strengthened the Trump camp's belief in cryptocurrencies.

During his previous presidency, Trump appointed several officials who were friendly to cryptocurrencies, which may be one of the reasons why crypto assets rose collectively when Trump's election was favorable.

Several crypto-friendly people have served in the Trump administration

J.D. Vance, Trump's vice president in the 2014 election, is a supporter of cryptocurrencies. In addition to owning crypto assets, he has also publicly criticized the U.S. SEC for its excessive regulation of cryptocurrencies.

J.D. Vance voted in the Senate to repeal the SAB-121 accounting standard, which the cryptocurrency industry is extremely opposed to, and plans to propose a more friendly cryptocurrency regulation bill.

During his previous presidency, Trump appointed several crypto-friendly people to important positions.

On July 21, 2017, Anthony Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge Capital, was appointed as Trump's White House Communications Director. Skybridge Capital is a hedge fund company that manages $3.5 billion in assets, nearly half of which is related to crypto assets. Its founder Anthony Scaramucci is also a staunch supporter and advocate of Bitcoin.

On December 15, 2018, Trump appointed Bitcoin supporter Mick Mulvaney as White House Chief of Staff. Mick Mulvaney is a cryptocurrency supporter and advocate who was one of the people working to create the Blockchain Caucus when he was in the House of Representatives (the Blockchain Caucus is a group of legislators who write and make new laws for emerging technologies such as cryptocurrency) and helped draft two new legislative bills to support the development and evolution of the blockchain industry - House Resolution 1108, and House Resolution 7002.

In April 2020, Trump appointed billionaire and blockchain supporter Mark Cuban as an advisor to the White House. Mark Cuba has always been known as a Bitcoin tycoon for his bold advocacy of cryptocurrency investment. He compared the cryptocurrency landscape to the explosive growth during the Internet boom in the 1990s, emphasizing its potential for huge returns.

On June 4, 2020, Trump nominated Hester Peirce, a commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for a second term, and she has earned the nickname "Crypto Mom" for her support of digital assets (and criticism of excessive regulation of crypto assets).

The presidential family who likes to issue NFTs

The Trump family also likes to issue crypto assets.

Former First Lady Melania was the first in the Trump family to actively embrace cryptocurrency. Melania launched her first NFT "Head of State" collection through her website in late 2021, priced at 1 Sol, about $185 at the time, and released on Solana.

When asked about Melania's NFT by Fox, Trump said: "She will do well, she has a rich imagination."

After leaving the White House, Trump has been good at using his name to profit for his brand, and the crypto market, which is vulnerable to personal influence, has become the best stage.

Following the example of his wife, Trump began to embrace NFT. In December 2022, he announced the release of a limited edition Trump digital trading card NFT on truth social. The NFT was minted on Polygon and sold for $99. It was sold out after it was released. According to OpenSea data, a total of 45,000 NFT transactions exceeded 648 ETH, about $785,000, and its floor price once reached 0.84 ETH.

Since then, the road to issuing Trump series NFTs has been unstoppable, with the launch of "Win Trump Prizes", the second series of "Trump Digital Trading Cards" and "Mugshot Edition", and the empowerment of NFT rights including dinner with Trump, video calls, golf and other rights. According to relevant documents, Trump earned $2.8 million through NFT sales.

Facing the American society led by Generation Z youth, the cryptocurrency crowd has become an important influencing force.

According to Coinbase data, in 2023, 52 million Americans own cryptocurrencies, accounting for 20% of the adult population in the United States. Under this general trend, in order to pursue the maximization of political goals and commercial interests, as well as to win votes, Trump has become a "sudden crypto supporter."

Trump said in his campaign speech that if he becomes president of the United States again, he will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). He believes that this will give the government absolute control over funds. On May 9, he officially accepted donations to the US presidential campaign in the form of cryptocurrency. This move also won Trump a lot of support and gained a firm foothold in the election.

Pardoning Crypto People

Before leaving office in 2021, Trump pardoned Ripple board member Ken Kurson.

According to the New York Times, Trump took a private plane provided by a scrap metal recycling giant and a cryptocurrency miner to meet with supporters in late 2021.

This time, in order to attract many young American voters, Trump promised the public in May this year that if he won the election, he would pardon Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, and emphasized his support for the right to self-custody, which undoubtedly aroused widespread consensus in the crypto community. After all, Ross was a martyr in the eyes of many cryptocurrency enthusiasts and libertarians.

In addition, Trump's recent public statements on the crypto field have also won the support of the US crypto industry.

Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell once published a statement that he donated $1 million to Trump in his personal capacity, mainly in ETH.

After Trump was attacked, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey publicly stated that he planned to raise $15 million for former US President Trump's re-election campaign later this month.

And Musk, the "father of Dogecoin", publicly expressed his support for Trump for the first time, and promised to donate about $45 million a month to a new super PAC to support Trump's presidential campaign.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Gemini's two co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss each donated $250,000 to Trump Super PAC.

At the same time, according to public data, Trump Super PAC, which was previously supported by Palantir's Joe Lonsdale and cryptocurrency billionaires Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, raised $8.8 million in the second quarter of this year.

The shift in crypto attitude may be a political means

For Trump's recent frequent positive crypto remarks, some crypto people who are well versed in American politics do not buy it.

Arthur Hayes criticized Trump's "sudden concern for cryptocurrency" in his recent blog post "Hot Chick" as insincere, saying that "pleasing the young, politically active and upstart cryptocurrency community" is just a means for Trump to win the election. He also predicted that once Trump takes office, his so-called support and concern for cryptocurrency "will become a distant memory."

The doubts from the crypto community are not limited to this.

As early as May this year, at the Trump NFT dinner, Trump was pointed out that he was not really proficient in cryptocurrency policy. For nearly an hour, only a few questions in Trump's speech focused on cryptocurrency, and his understanding of crypto policy was sporadic and not worth pondering. When asked how he would change the policy of expelling the crypto industry from the country, he said: "We will stop it because I don't want that. I hope that if we are going to embrace it, then we must keep them here", and such an answer obviously did not give specific policy directions and measures.

Regarding Trump's sudden change in attitude towards cryptocurrencies, some senior figures and observers in the crypto community also pointed out that Trump's attitude towards cryptocurrencies in the past was not friendly, and he even publicly declared that Bitcoin was a scam and called for stricter regulation. Now that his position has taken a 180-degree turn, it is hard not to doubt the motives behind it. As Arthur Hayes and others have criticized, Trump's positive crypto-talk may just be a temporary political show. Once elected, whether he will really fulfill his promise and bring substantial benefits to the cryptocurrency industry remains an unknown.

Despite the shooting, Trump said he would still deliver a speech at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference as scheduled. Whether the content of the speech will bring deeper cryptographic insights and future policies remains to be seen.