jakiro
Author: Olga Kharif, Stephanie Lai, David Pan, Teresa Xie, Bloomberg; Compilation: Baishui, Bitchain Vision
It was supposed to be a cryptocurrency conference, but it could easily be mistaken for Trump’s rally.
On a hawker peddling Red Hat, it read “Make Bitcoin Great Again” when Donald Trump vows to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler if he returns to the White House and use love numbersAs regulators in the asset industry replaced them, the crowd burst into applause.
“I assure the Bitcoin community that the anti-cryptocurrency movement of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will end on the day I was sworn in,” said Trump’s Bitcoin 2024 held in Nashville on Saturday.The conference compared cryptocurrency to the steel industry a century ago.“If Bitcoin is going to the moon,” he added, “I want the United States to be a trend-leading country.”
The speech marks a radical shift in the former president’s position on the asset class, which he considered a crime-ridden scam during his tenure.This also marks the increasingly obvious merger of an outsider’s political machine and an outsider’s financial movement, which is also striving to enter the mainstream.
On July 27, Donald Trump spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville.Trump was once a cryptocurrency critic, but his attitude has changed since he started selling NFTs.Photographer: Brett Carlsen/Bloomberg
Traditionally, this strategy is just a typical Trump-style deal.He needs votes and money in the presidential campaign, and now it looks like it will be a close match, and he is taking advantage of the opportunity created by the President’s administration to alienate crypto people by cracking down on the crypto industry.
If so, then it works.The public image of the cryptocurrency ecosystem is dominated by cyber warriors with a large amount of money, providing fertile ground for Trump to harvest tens of millions of dollars in campaign funds and a growing army of loyal fans.His newly discovered industry cheerleader role helped him acquire Dogecoin enthusiast Elon Musk, billionaire twins Taylor and Cameron Vinclairvos, as well as venture capitalists Mark Anderson and Ben HolloSupport from Witz et al.
“As the Bitcoin Conference demonstrated, President Trump wants our country to regain the global leadership in technology, innovation and manufacturing,“These include cryptocurrencies and other areas,” said Brian Hughes, a senior campaign adviser.”
All donations and noise in the cryptocurrency space are not ignored by the other party.Bitcoin fans on X circulated a letter allegedly signed by more than twenty Democratic lawmakers and candidates.The letter to the party’s national committee urges a more modest stance on digital assets.
However, while Trump is enjoying all the new support, there are other things that have played a major role in Trump’s transformation into a cryptocurrency believer:Beautify your image.In short, he fell in love with Trump-themed non-fungible tokens—and the supporters who bought them—that enthusiasm has transformed, according to insiders who are following the evolution of Trump’s cryptocurrency.For a wider appreciation of the industry.
Trump’s questions about digital asset valuation did not slow his NFT sales pitch, which became apparent in May when he improvised at a gathering of supporters at Mar-Lago who bought at least 47Digital Trading Card – Pop Art Rendering of the former President, including images of him dressed as a cowboy, superhero and other fantasy characters.
They are priced at $99 per piece, but Trump yells at whether he can buy more.
According to videos of his event held on New York’s hush-fee criminal trial break, he told the crowd: “There is a big difference between $99 and $499, $599, maybe $1,000, and I don’t know.” “But I don’t want to.”Do that. I want to keep it. Now, no one will believe it, they will say ‘Oh, this guy is talking nonsense’.”
Not long ago, Trump himself criticized cryptocurrency promoters for talking nonsense, accusing Bitcoin and other tokens of promoting crime, and criticizing his valuation “coming out of thin air” during his presidency.However, between the tweet that was posted until he and his wife Melania started selling NFTs, Trump changed his mind.
“Trump’s NFT really made him stand in front of cryptocurrency for the first time,”Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, said the association is a trade organization that has been one of the liaisons between the Trump campaign and the cryptocurrency industry.
For an industry that is plagued by scandals and is facing an existential threat amid a massive administration’s legal action, Trump’s capriciousness on cryptocurrency may have made him one of the superheroes in the NFT.And for Trump, the topic gives him another entry point to attack his Democratic opponents—an imbalanced entry point given the industry’s enthusiasm for canvassing and the unprecedented amount of related fundraising.The crypto-backed Fairshake PAC and two coalition super PACs have raised $170 million in this round, despite their focus on the congressional campaign and donating to both parties.
Trump’s symbiotic relationship with the industry is clear at a glance in Nashville: Trump asks them for big donations as cryptocurrency fans cheer for the prospect of a more friendly regulatory environment.His cryptocurrency “Round Table” costs $844,600 for seats and photo receptions costs $60,000 per person — $100,000 per couple.Mike Belshe, CEO of cryptocurrency company BitGo, will hold a fundraising event in Palo Alto, California on Monday to raise more money.
Although all the crypto-world celebrities today are dating Trump, there are still some less well-known figures who deserve praise—or should be blamed—for Trump’s guide to the strange rabbit hole of digital assets.
The first one isBill Zanker, he is the founder of the adult education company The Learning Annex and co-author of the 2007 book “Thinking and Kicking the Ass with Trump.”Zank said he was an old friend of Trump and had invited Trump as a speaker for Learning Annex.
Zanke said in an interview,He approached Trump about two and a half years ago to sell him an idea: NFT artwork featuring the former president’s comics.Zank recalls Trump was interested but didn’t want to call them NFTs.
“I want to call it a digital transaction card on the computer,” Zanke said Trump told him.“If you call them NFTs, people simply can’t understand.”
Subsequently, Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange collapsed, and a series of other industry bankruptcies in 2022 – a series of events that left millions of people victims and led to a severe blow to the industry by the Biden administration.In December 2022, which is what he called the “cryptocurrency winter”, Zanke came to Mar-Lago and asked, “Mr. President, do you want to continue doing it?” He said, “Bill, do you know,Many of my friends say I shouldn’t do that. But I like it, then do it.”
Trump’s role in the project is by no means passive.“He agrees with every photo,” Zank said.”He spent hours studying it. He loved it. He called it pop art,” he added,The project inspired Trump to spend time researching cryptocurrencies and asked many questions to help him understand topics such as how the Ethereum blockchain works.
According to Zank, NFT was a big success, with each new series sold out in a few hours.Two events were then held at Mar-a-Lago, one at the end of last year and one in May, when Trump met with the buyers and greeted them.
“He fell in love with this group of people: young, ambitious, unregulated,” Zank said.“Someone asked him, ‘How do you think of cryptocurrency?’ He said, ‘I like it, I don’t like it all going abroad.’ Of course, the crowd went crazy.”
Once, when talking about accepting campaign donations in cryptocurrency, Trump called his friend to the stage.
“‘Zanker, should we accept cryptocurrency donations?’” Zanker recalled the question Trump asked at the time.”I promised. He became the president of cryptocurrency.” So far,The campaign said they have raised more than $4 million in cryptocurrency donations, in addition to millions of dollars in traditional donations from industry backers.According to Zanke, Trump’s trading card NFT (a total of nearly 200,000 pieces distributed among three collections) has brought more than $20 million in revenue to Trump and his partners,But he declined to say how the income was distributed.
Following the NFT campaign, the industry’s pursuit of Trump—and his pursuit of potential donors who have become rich through cryptocurrencies—continues to grow.
The next big event isJune in the tea room at Mar-a-LagoTrump and his guests were there eating cookies and attracted a small group of executives from crypto miners whose large high-tech data centers were responsible for facilitating transactions on the blockchain in exchange for Bitcoin orRemuneration paid by other cryptocurrencies.
“We talked about how to get bitcoin users involved in the political process,” said Brian Morgenstern, director of public policy at the miner Riot Platforms Inc., who worked at the White House and the Treasury Department during the Trump administration.“If you don’t participate, if you don’t talk to the candidate, you can’t change the policy.”
Trump must be involved.During the meeting with miners, he became an avid supporter of cryptocurrencies and posted on his Truth Social account that he hoped all the remaining bitcoins would be “made in the United States!!!” and said Bitcoin miningThe mine could be “our last line of defense against the CBDC.”This refers to the central bank’s digital currency, which is the response of monetary institutions to cryptocurrencies, which has not yet entered the research stage in the United States.CBDC critics warned that they could be used as surveillance tools as they enable government authorities to track money flows more easily.Of course, they also pose a fierce competition for crypto stablecoins that track the value of the US dollar and other fiat currencies.
The Satochip crypto wallet displayed at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, which contains photos taken after Trump’s assassination.Photographer: Brett Carlsen/Bloomberg
Trump’s circle of cryptocurrency advisers has expanded, relying on billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk to advise the industry.His former rival, entrepreneur Vivekramaswami, in the Republican primary, also said he had discussed potential cryptocurrency policies with Trump.
On Capitol Hill, he found believers in cryptocurrencies among Republican allies.Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, who attended the Mar-a-Lago meeting with miners and the Bitcoin conference in Nashville in June, has become Trump’s campaign surrogate when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
Earlier this month, the cryptocurrency industry became the focus of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Rep. Brian Steyer participated in a blockchain conference on cryptocurrencies, and Hagerty on the custody of manufacturingTalk to the industry in the group discussion.
“We have to get the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. back to the limits, and we see institutions that go beyond their quota, creating uncertainty here – uncertainty has created very much for capital investment.Negative effects,” Hagerty said.
Just outside the security boundaries of the Republican National Committee, supporters distributed paper fans to promote MAGA memecoin, a cryptocurrency project that has recruited Trump’s ally, Roger Stone, as a partner.
These fans are the latest signs of Trump and his surrounding culture becoming a major phenomenon for memecoin traders, one of the most risky tokens that offer the least crypto innovation but become the gouging and selling program targets.
According to the data from tracker CoinGecko,MAGA is the largest memecoin associated with Trump, with a total market capitalization of over $300 million.The tokens have no official connection with Trump, but that has not stopped them from becoming more and more popular.The team of memecoin platform Pump.fun noticed thatOn July 13 alone, more than 2,000 Trump-related tokens were created after the former president’s attempted assassination.
Of course, if something like FTX happens again, or simply a price drop leads to worsening market sentiment, there are political risks for Trump to be so closely linked to this infamous asset class.However, Hilary Allen, a professor at the Washington Law School of American University, saidThe risk that the cryptocurrency industry itself is so ideologically consistent with the Republican Party may be greater, with its research focusing on financial law.
“This may alienate some users because cryptocurrencies are a very ideological investment in themselves,” she said.“It may increase the appeal of Republican users, but it may alienate Democratic users.”
The Trump Trading Card website promotes real-world benefits purchased by NFTs, including a physical trading card containing fragments of the suit he wore when he took a police photo in Fulton County, Georgia on August 24, 2023.Source: collecttrumpcards.com
Only time will tell us whether Trump will win a second term and bring about the more favorable regulatory environment the industry wants.The current bet on Polymarket shows that Trump has a 57% chance of winning, a cryptocurrency-based platform that allows people outside the United States to place bets on political outcomes.
If he wins, friendly regulators may not be the only gift he has given to the industry.
In Nashville, Trump said he would order the administration not to sell cryptocurrencies seized in criminal cases, but instead use them as the basis for what he calls strategic bitcoin reserves.However, Bitcoin gave up on the gains ahead of the speech after Trump failed to confirm plans to order the government to buy as many as 1 million tokens, his rival Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met on Friday at a meetingTrump may announce the news, the top said.The original cryptocurrency rose again on Monday, approaching the $70,000 level for the first time since mid-June.
Meanwhile, Trump is planning the next move for his crypto businesses, even on a busy campaign schedule.
A fourth set of Trump NFT series is in preparation, and Zanke said he hopes it will be available in August and promises it will be “the biggest and best series ever” and “bring a lot of surprises.”(Some past purchases include real-world benefits, such as the Mar-a-Lago reception or the suit Trump wore when he was taken in a big headshot in the Georgia election scam.)
“We met him before the assassination attempt and asked him to approve the artwork,” Zank said.“He looked at every picture.”
