Speaking at the bitcoin Conference 2024 On Saturday in Nashville, former President Donald Trump made several promises to the bitcoin community if elected in 2024. In particular, Trump said he would create a strategic national reserve of bitcoin as an economic asset.
“I promise the bitcoin community that the day I am sworn into office, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' anti-crypto crusade will be over,” “America will be the crypto capital of the planet and the world's bitcoin superpower.”
Trump promised to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on his first day in office and appoint a new president more friendly to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. He also said the government would keep 100% of its current bitcoins instead of auctioning them off, thus slowly creating a national reserve.
“bitcoin represents freedom, sovereignty, and independence from government coercion and control,” Trump said. “bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will soar like never before if I am elected president.”
The former president's comments were well-received by the audience, which was mostly libertarian-leaning. Attendees Andrew Campbell told Wired that he would vote for Trump this time around after not doing so in 2016 or 2020. “I think we've gone too far to the left and we need to step back and focus,” he said.
Trump also reaffirmed his promise to pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht on his first day in office. Ulbricht is serving a double sentence of life in prison plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. Trump claimed that bitcoin is not threatening the dollar, but rather that “the current United States government is threatening the dollar.”
Following Trump's speech, bitcoin rose more than 3% to reach its highest price in six weeks.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also spoke at the conference, pledging to create a reserve of 4 million bitcoins if elected. Trump’s plan doesn’t go that far, but it still represents a significant embrace of bitcoin by the Republican candidate.
Now that bitcoin has become a key issue in the 2024 election campaign, Trump is clearly courting the growing bitcoin and cryptocurrency faction within the Republican Party. Based on the enthusiastic reception in Nashville, the strategy seems effective in securing the bitcoin vote.
