Presto OriginalJul 30, 2024

Hello, Crypto President!

Summary

  • During Bitcoin 2024, Trump became the first former or current American president to speak at a Bitcoin event, showcasing his evolving stance on the cryptocurrency industry.

  • Trump's speech included promises to make the U.S. the capital of crypto, commute Ross Ulbricht's sentence, fire Gary Gensler, and establish a U.S. strategic Bitcoin stockpile, with the famous quote, “Never sell your Bitcoin.”

  • Trump proposed the idea of a strategic national Bitcoin stockpile, where the U.S. would hold onto seized Bitcoin without selling it. This plan suggests a passive version of a strategic reserve and has sparked further discussion, including Senator Cynthia Lummis’s suggestion of a “Bitcoin Reserve Bill” to actively purchase Bitcoin over time.

  • The presence of two presidential candidates, Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at the Bitcoin conference underscores the growing importance of the crypto community in mainstream politics, making it challenging for other candidates like Kamala Harris to ignore crypto support.

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Introduction

During Bitcoin 2024, the biggest Bitcoin conference in the world, the 45th President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald J. Trump became the first former or current American President ever to address a Bitcoin event. With crypto becoming an important part of election campaigns and voter engagement, Trump has been consistently promising that the cryptocurrency industry will thrive under his presidency, even naming himself a "Crypto President." With that, this article aims to explore how Trump’s views on crypto have evolved and why his speech at Bitcoin 2024 was significant.

Before Bitcoin 2024

It is surprising to remember that Trump was once against Bitcoin and crypto. As recently as 2021, Trump referred to Bitcoin as a scam and a competing currency against the dollar, a stark contrast to his statements at Bitcoin 2024. Before his 2024 election campaign, his comments on Bitcoin and crypto were mostly negative.

His comments are as follows:

Figure1

Figure 1: Trump’s comment on crypto before 2024 

When did this change? Starting from this year, Trump began to change his tune on crypto. Whether motivated by votes or donations, he started making extremely bullish statements about the crypto industry and announced that he would be speaking at Bitcoin 2024. Before Bitcoin 2024, his comments on Bitcoin and crypto took a positive turn.

His comments are as follows (after March 2024):

Figure2

Figure 2: Trump’s comment on crypto after 2024

Bitcoin 2024

With Trump making extremely bullish statements on crypto and confirming that he would speak at Bitcoin 2024, there were numerous rumors about what he would announce. Speculation included Elon Musk attending as a special guest, Trump declaring Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, and announcing the plans to purchase millions of Bitcoin. This led to Bitcoin's price regaining its $68k mark from $57.5k.

Below are the 20 most important quotes from Trump, word for word:

Figure3

Figure 3: Trump’s comment during Bitcoin 2024   

Overall, Trump made it clear that the U.S. will become the capital of crypto and that the industry will thrive under his leadership. He addressed key issues important to the crypto community, such as commuting the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, firing Gary Gensler on his first day in office, and promising a U.S. strategic Bitcoin stockpile by making the most famous quote in this speech, “Never sell your Bitcoin.”

Key Takeaways

Starting with the disappointing side, the overall impression of the speech was that it was more about his election campaign than Bitcoin itself. Expectations were extremely high, with people hoping for a more bullish statement, like Trump announcing, “buying a million Bitcoin.” After all, this was just another election campaign for Trump. He was here to get more votes. Trump even said that the opposite party is being “Let's be nice to them, at least until after the election," to the crypto industry, which could be no different from himself. And please don't forget Trump himself was against Bitcoin and the crypto industry just three years ago.

However, there is no doubt that having two presidential candidates, Donald J. Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaking at the Bitcoin conference demonstrates how important crypto has become to the mainstream. It is surprising to see the status of crypto today compared to five years ago when most people considered it a scam or insignificant. Moreover, with two presidential candidates supporting crypto, it will be challenging for Kamala Harris not to support it, as votes from the crypto community can be a swing factorin the election.

In his comments, Trump made numerous bullish statements about crypto, such as predicting that Bitcoin's market cap ($1.37T) would overtake gold's market cap ($16.06T) and supporting regulatory changes, including ending Operation Chokepoint 2.0. He reinstated some of the promises that he mentioned earlier, such as there will be no CBDC, commuting the sentence of Ross, and the US becoming the capital of crypto. However, his most significant comment was his promise to make Bitcoin the core of a strategic national Bitcoin stockpile, with the U.S government not selling the Bitcoin they have currently seized.

What is a strategic national Bitcoin stockpile? While it is unclear what Trump exactly means by this, it could be seen as a passive version of a strategic reserve. If a strategic reserve involves keeping and “buying” commodities or items such as oil and gold for particular strategies or unexpected events, Trump seemed to use the strategic national Bitcoin stockpile as keeping the Bitcoin they have seized without any active buying involved. However, there still needs to be more clarity on this plan, and right after Trump’s speech, Cynthia Lummis, a U.S. Senator, suggested a “Bitcoin Reserve Bill” which involves purchasing 1M BTC over time to approximately acquire 5% of the total Bitcoin supply. Thus, if Trump becomes president, the key point should be whether active buying of Bitcoin will happen.

Conclusion

It is stunning to see how the public perception of Bitcoin and the general crypto industry have evolved. Five years ago, no one would have imagined a leading presidential candidate speaking at a Bitcoin conference and shouting, “Bitcoin is going to the moon.” Whether Trump truly understands crypto or is simply being opportunistic, it is undeniable that the influence of the crypto community is stronger than ever before. With that, #FREEROSS.


*The full transcript of Trump's speech is available in the PDF document

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