Trump becomes the first “Bitcoin president” in American history

CMed

24-11-06 14:36

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One of the most important narratives in 2024, even more important than the narrative of the BTC ETF passing, was Trump's election as the US president, which ended at 14:27 on November 6, Eastern Time, with 270 votes in favor of Trump. What's important is not the election itself, but that Trump is the first US president who is extremely friendly to cryptocurrencies.

The previous US government's step-by-step pressure on the compliance of the cryptocurrency market is expected to end here with the Trump administration. With the support of the orthodox American political arena, the scale of the future cryptocurrency market will leave only an extremely broad imagination space for every market participant.

Clearly oppose Biden's crypto policy

On May 22, the Trump campaign team issued an announcement on its official website stating that its campaign will begin accepting Bitcoin donations. Currently, Trump's supporters can donate to Trump using any cryptocurrency accepted by Coinbase Commerce products.

The announcement reads: "Biden's agent Elizabeth Warren said in her attack on cryptocurrencies that she is building an 'anti-cryptocurrency army' to limit Americans' right to make their own financial choices... MAGA supporters now have a new cryptocurrency option, and they will build a cryptocurrency army on November 5 to drive the campaign to victory!"

This move undoubtedly further clarifies the differences in policy tendencies between Trump and Biden on cryptocurrency matters. In this term that is about to pass, Biden and his Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren launched a fierce and comprehensive "regulatory attack" on the cryptocurrency industry, and rounds of regulatory prosecutions have made many practitioners miserable.

Last June, Biden said that he would eliminate tax loopholes for cryptocurrencies and hedge funds, and the rich and large companies must pay taxes fairly. In March of this year, VanEck CEO Matthew Sigel said in an interview, "The Biden administration does not want banks and brokers to touch digital assets. If the presidency changes, we will see more support for the industry."

In May 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a resolution involving the crypto industry, H.J. Res 109, which will allow strictly regulated financial companies to act as custodians of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, this resolution was opposed by the office of U.S. President Biden. "The government strongly opposes the passage of H.J. Resolution No. 109, which will disrupt the work of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to protect investors in the crypto asset market and the broader financial system... If the president receives H.J. Res. 109, he will veto it."

In a statement on Wednesday that year, Biden said he would strongly oppose interference with the work of the SEC. "SAB 121 was issued in response to technical, legal and regulatory risks that have been shown to exist, which have caused huge losses to consumers."

In contrast, Trump is much friendlier to cryptocurrencies. Previously, when Trump was in office, he appointed former Coinbase Vice President Brian Brook as the Comptroller of the Currency, allowing banks and financial institutions to hold cryptocurrencies. This ruling took effect in the middle of Trump's last year in office and was called by many as "the most important Bitcoin development initiative in American history."

A "deep player" of digital assets

In addition to showing friendliness to cryptocurrencies at the attitude level, Trump may also be the first presidential candidate to personally participate in the cryptocurrency industry.

In May 2024, Trump flew back to Florida after appearing in court and hosted a private dinner with the main buyers of his "Mugshot Edition" NFT trading cards. The Mugshot Edition NFT series is also quite impressive, featuring photos of him being arrested in Georgia last year for plotting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results and various derivative illustrations, including photos of the arrest scene, illustrations of Trump wearing a cowboy hat, and a cartoon image of Trump holding lightning with “American Superhero” written below.

Each of these NFTs costs $99, and those who attend the dinner must purchase more than 47 NFTs. Buyers who hold 100 NFTs are also eligible to attend the “VIP” cocktail party before the dinner, and will receive cards printed with Trump’s suit in which he was arrested in 2020, and “lucky buyers” will also receive Trump’s autograph.

Frank, the founder of DeGods, also participated in the dinner as a well-known founder and KOL of the American NFT community. In addition to the above video, Frank also posted another live video of the event on his X account, in which Trump said he “wants to make NFTs hot again.”

During the event, Malcolm, a member of de Labs (DeGods' parent company), asked Trump about the issue of crypto companies leaving the United States due to regulatory issues. Trump randomly responded that he would work hard to keep these teams in the United States, "I will stop these hostilities. If we want to embrace encryption, we need them to stay here."

In addition to NFT, Trump also holds a lot of cryptocurrencies. As of now, according to data from the on-chain analysis platform Arkham, the value of Trump's crypto assets has increased significantly, currently about $6.25 million, including 579,290 meme coins TRUMP with himself as a meme element, worth $2.15 million, 495,278 ETH, worth $1.28 million, and 478,561 WETH, worth $1.24 million. In addition, he has received a lot of other Meme coin airdrops.

Source: Arkham

Trump's recognition of cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, can be said to be unprecedented in the history of world politics. Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss posted on social media, "The Harris-Biden administration has made the crypto industry pay $500 million in legal fees. Vote for Trump, and that number will drop to zero; vote for Harris, and the fees will surge to billions of dollars."

He has expressed his children's love for cryptocurrency more than once and participated in cryptocurrency efforts. World Liberty FInancial plans to provide cryptocurrency lending services on the Ethereum blockchain network. It will be more "user-friendly" and accessible than existing solutions, and will be based on the non-transferable WLFI governance token. And it will definitely be compliant.

Before announcing the token distribution, Trump talked about his understanding of Crypto on Twitter Space for 30 minutes. The 78-year-old veteran, who experienced two assassination attempts in less than two months, continued to express his love for Crypto and his criticism of Harris in the live broadcast. He praised his children's love for cryptocurrencies, recognized the development of cryptocurrencies, and was surprised by the success of NFT sales and the proportion of payments made through cryptocurrencies.

Trump's Commitment to Bitcoin

In order to win this election, Trump frantically showed goodwill to people in the crypto industry during the canvassing and became a Bitcoin activist. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference held in Nashville in July this year, Trump appeared and delivered a nearly 1-hour speech. Although it was delayed by 1 hour from the original time, tens of thousands of viewers on the scene were still in high spirits during Trump's very personal speech.

Trump mentioned in his speech that plans are being made to ensure that the United States will become the world's encryption center and Bitcoin superpower; on the first day of his election as president, he will fire the current SEC Chairman Gray Gensler, will keep every Bitcoin-related job in the United States, and will appoint a Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency Presidential Advisory Committee after taking office; Bitcoin does not pose a threat to the US dollar, and those who think Bitcoin poses a threat to the US dollar are completely wrong. The future danger does not come from cryptocurrency, but from Washington, DC; after his election, the United States will not sell (100% retain) any Bitcoin as a strategic Bitcoin reserve.