If I wasn’t there in person, it would be hard to accurately describe how long and winding the line was to see Donald Trump speak at the bitcoin conference. The wait to get through security and find a seat in the auditorium was hours long and thousands of people were rushing to find seats on the Nakamoto stage early in the day. As the line snaked through the expo hall, it was easy to find an even distribution of Bitcoiners and Trump supporters (some were both) all eager to hear Trump speak. There was an excitement in the atmosphere and while I didn’t share the excitement, it did permeate the air in Nashville. Uber drivers were quick to point out that Trump was going to speak at the conference. Around the city there were large images of Trump’s face next to bitcoin symbols advertising the conference. Trump-mania had surely taken over the conference, but it also seemed to take over the city of Nashville.
I can’t deny that the fact that Donald Trump spoke at the bitcoin Conference during an election year is a huge achievement. It’s an important moment for bitcoin and we should all appreciate this event, in a sense, as a milestone that we can all be proud of as Bitcoiners. Trump’s speech promised to bring bitcoin into the mainstream political conversation and thus normalize a rising digital currency that most people still dismiss as “fake internet money.” It was a moment that we should all remember for the rest of our lives; this was bitcoin’s chance to be included in serious conversations held by serious people.
If Trump had arrived on time for his speech, we would have known an hour in advance that this wasn’t going to happen. Instead, we waited. Once Trump started his speech, it didn’t take long to realize that the people who waited for hours all day had been sold a lie. Trump’s speech was a rambling, at times incoherent campaign speech, with a few little nods to cryptocurrencies and… I guess… bitcoin thrown in for good measure. The first mention of bitcoin came about six and a half minutes into his remarks. I don’t blame Trump for talking more about cryptocurrencies than bitcoin; most politicians do. But as he spoke at the bitcoin conference, I expected him to spend more time discussing bitcoin than his genius uncle who used to work at MIT. Unfortunately, sometimes you just can’t set the bar low enough.
The most concrete conclusion to be drawn from hearing Trump talk about bitcoin is that Robert Kennedy Jr. thinks more deeply about bitcoin while drinking his first cup of coffee each morning than Donald Trump has thought about bitcoin in his entire life. All of Trump’s best moments during his speech (and there were a few) were copied, without further ado, from RFK Jr.’s opening speech the day before. The parts of the speech that he did not copy from RFK Jr. were: x.com/JoshBitcoinPark/status/1817304468746129741″>disdainful, x.com/Sina_21st/status/1817293463710310709″>arrogant, x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1817300559180738953″>complacency and x.com/hollywoodcurry/status/1817325502262038852?s=46″>MisinformedThe value of watching the speech is that bitcoin voters who keep hearing about one issue now have an easy decision to make.
Sure, there are plenty of Bitcoiners who love Trump and love his rhetoric. But there are also a surprising number of people who see this for what it is: a politician seeking money and votes. and An insecure bitcoin community seeking some borrowed legitimacy. There are some positive effects to having a major presidential candidate talk about bitcoin, but the more serious people I know in the space also recognize that there are some risks and dangers involved as well. Chief among these dangers is that by getting close to Trump, the bitcoin community risks alienating itself from pre-monetary audiences for the foreseeable future. This seems to be a point, I think, that is hard to grasp if you already like bitcoin or if you already like Trump. Try to remember that most people don’t fit into either category.
I’ve been in the bitcoin space publicly long enough to appreciate the massive cognitive dissonance that exists among many Bitcoiners. Some of these people are libertarians who are fully committed to individual freedom but are unwilling to respect a person’s gender identity. Some of these people are conservatives who want to see the government shrink while that same government controls what books are banned and what healthcare people are allowed to receive. Some of these people are Bitcoiners who want to see the government disintermediated from the financial system while loudly applauding a politician who promises to buy bitcoin on behalf of the US government. If I can see the cognitive dissonance, why is it so difficult for a community that prides itself on being heterodox, skeptical, and distrustful of verification?
I consider it a personal responsibility to give the orange pill to as many people as I can, and I have taken that commitment very seriously. This means that I want to expose the 57% of Americans For those who don't like Trump, bitcoin is a force for good in this world; my job is tough and since Nashville, it's gotten tougher. Let's face it: bitcoin is the perfect combination of “the Internet” and “money” that should make anyone skeptical. There's no shortage of FUD that dismisses bitcoin as fake money or a scam or a Ponzi scheme or money for criminals. Seasoned Bitcoiners may not be concerned about any of that, but the pre-coiners I know are certainly very reputation-conscious. If my job is to convince them to consider it twice, that gets harder when Bitcoiners go out of their way to align themselves with a well-known with artist, philanderer, fraudand convicted felon.
bitcoin will undoubtedly attract its share of scammers, womanizers, phonies, and criminals. bitcoin is for them, too. But we should not capitulate and rebrand bitcoin as Trumpian. This is simply bad marketing. The most compelling argument I have heard in favor of seeking Trump's approval is that it will force other politicians to support bitcoin and his policies would force other nations to take bitcoin seriously. This might turn out to be true, but the opposite is just as likely to happen. The pre-normie walleters, if they pay attention at all, will easily be able to put the bitcoin “scam” next to the Trump “scam” and walk away from the whole thing and sleep easy. Meanwhile, Trump will have no genuine affinity toward bitcoin after the votes are counted.
After so much effort to ensure that bitcoin is nonpartisan, bipartisan, and apolitical, it was our community (actually a handful of influential and connected Bitcoiners) that sought an alliance with the most polarizing political figure in generations. It would be one thing if Trump found bitcoin on his own, x.com/davidfbailey/status/1800680156694237280?s=46″>But that is not the caseWe ourselves made this unnecessary mistake, or more precisely, we allowed the leaders of our leaderless movement to make mistakes on our behalf.
I can hear you shouting, “Well, what’s your solution? Vote for the others?” Good question. Here’s my solution: Walk away from the politicians and walk up to the voters. Meet them where they are and educate them on the ways bitcoin solves the problems they care about. That’s it. The rest will take care of itself. Take a low time preference and it will happen from the ground up, without having to sacrifice your principles. This is the best way to promote bitcoin adoption, protect the marginalized people bitcoin can help, and attract policymakers who truly and deeply care about bitcoin and avoid “cryptocurrencies.” If you do engage with politicians, advocate for self-custody protections, de minimis tax treatment so bitcoin can be easily spent, and consumer protections imposed on exchanges and brokers.
For those who think Trump is now one of us, he is not. He will leave our community the moment it serves him, and we will be worse off for it. Look away. A week after Trump appeared in Nashville, he sat down for a disastrous interview with the National Association of Black Journalists. It turns out that didn't make him a black journalist. Nor did his presence in Nashville make him a Bitcoiner. We could all use a reminder of that.
This is a guest post by Jason Maier. The views expressed are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of btc Inc or bitcoin Magazine.
