Token affection
Investors are adding to bullish wagers on crypto after a failed assassination attempted boosted speculation that Donald Trump is more likely to win the US presidential election in November.
The candidate’s pro-crypto position strikes a stark contract with the current administration’s crackdown on just about every type of company in the industry, ranging from digital-asset trading platforms and their banking partners to Bitcoin miners. In fact, it’s a stark contrast from Trump’s own position when he was president.
A Trump tweet from 2019. Source: @realDonaldTrump
Trump is taking his newfound support for digital assets so seriously he’s detouring his campaign trail to make a stop on the industry’s most-hallowed ground: The crypto conference circuit. On July 27, he will speak on the main stage of the Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville, where the firmest believers convene and marvel at the greatness of the original cryptocurrency.
The sector hopes the new Trump administration will provide friendlier legal framework and, more importantly, a new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The regulator has been the industry’s main antagonist and a difficult checkpoint between crypto firms and the public capital markets. Under Gary Gensler’s leadership, the SEC has launched lawsuits against a slew of crypto firms including Coinbase Global Inc., while stablecoin issuer Circle and rival exchange Kraken face lengthy processes to complete their initial public offerings.
In a market that is significantly driven by narratives, Trump is likely to create plenty of positive catalysts to push the hype to another level. He has touted many benefits of Bitcoin on social media after a meeting with crypto-mining executives at his Mar-a-Lago club. Crypto sleuths are seizing on the fact that Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance, his pick for vice president and a longtime crypto advocate, has held as much as a quarter-million dollars worth of Bitcoin as of 2022. A growing group of billionaires, including Elon Musk, are giving Trump advice on how to regulate crypto — and tossing in millions of dollars in donations to boot.
While Trump’s flip-flop on crypto is quite a departure from the disdain toward digital assets that he expressed five years ago, it’s hardly surprising to see a politician embrace an industry whose executives are willing to write such big checks.
Charting it out
Investment Split
Counting it out
$45 million
The monthly amount Elon Musk is pledging to donate to a political group backing Donald Trump, whom he has advised on crypto policy.
Hearing them out
"It is precisely the fact that I have proven untrustworthy that compels me to create trustless systems."
Richard Kim
Former executive at Galaxy
Describing how his gambling habit and past misappropriation of investor funds fueled a passion for crypto, in an interview with CoinDesk.