One in four Americans bitcoin%3A-unchained-study”>own bitcoin.
That is further Americans are over 65, but how often do you hear candidates talk about the concerns of older people versus the concerns of cryptocurrency owners?
President Donald Trump has been making a concerted effort in the 2024 election campaign to appeal to Bitcoiners.
At the recent Libertarian National Convention, President Trump promised to “stop Joe Biden's crusade to crush cryptocurrencies” and specifically assured bitcoin holders that he supports the right to self-custody.
“I say this with your vote: I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her bullies away from your bitcoin, and I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency,” President Trump said.
It is clear which candidate this November is the best choice for bitcoin owners and the entire industry: President Trump. He appears to see the wisdom in the pro-bitcoin stances taken by popular leaders around the world, such as President Javier. bitcoin-agenda/”>mercy from Argentina and Nayib bitcoin-champion-nayib-bukele-starts-new-term/ar-BB1nu9Mh”>Look of El Salvador
Consequently, it takes a clear position.
Trump recognizes our right to self-sovereignty and perhaps no one better understands the value of decentralization, as people have been losing trust in institutions like the government and banks. Trump has been the target of an unprecedented legal war that politicizes the justice system, and Trump-affiliated organizations have been debanked and stripped of their platforms.
Meanwhile, President Biden just crypto-bill-industry-promises-fight-back”>banned legislation that would have guaranteed a customer's right to have their bitcoin or other digital assets held in custody by their preferred regulated financial institution, ridiculously, in the name of “consumer protection.”
The Biden administration has been extraordinarily hostile toward bitcoin, as well as the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem. The administration launched “Operation Choke Point 2.0” whereby regulators effectively instituted new rules through press releases instructing banks to stop doing business with companies in the digital asset space. Additionally, the White House proposed a 30 percent tax on the energy used to mine bitcoin, which would make it unprofitable and completely uneconomical for the industry to do business in the United States. The Department of Energy also attempted to collect information on bitcoin miners. tech/tech-news/2024/02/24/eia-to-temporarily-suspend-bitcoin-miner-survey-after-lawsuit–court-document”>energy contracts as a step towards the regulation of its bankruptcy. The Justice Department even broke with the Treasury Department's long-standing guidelines when it attempted to regulate x.com/valkenburgh/status/1785329703202496855″>through a court filing say that self-hosted wallets should be treated like money transfer companies. This is all by design. They want to effectively ban the industry.
It all starts to make sense if you consider that the Biden administration has also tech/crypto/us-government-digital-currency-rcna19248″>sat down the foundations for a central bank digital currency.
Certain politicians support the creation of a CBDC because they want complete control. They want to be able to track our transactions and tell us how we can and can't spend our money. bitcoin represents the polar opposite: freedom from government-driven collectivism and the empowerment of the individual.
To be clear, there are many pro-bitcoin leaders in the Democratic Party, such as Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representatives Ritchie Torres and Wiley Nickel, just to name a few. More than 70 Democrats in the House of Representatives recently voted in favor of pro-market structure legislation. But there needs to be many more.
President Biden has handed over governance of his administration on these issues to the self-proclaimed “anti-crypto” Senator Elizabeth Warren and her acolytes. This has resulted in policies that reflect the Chinese Communist Party's approach to bitcoin, and anything the ruling party disapproves of: cutting financial services, attempting to cut off energy access in the name of environmentalism, imposing impossible market regulations, and, essentially, not everything they can to hinder the bitcoin network as they work towards the ultimate tool of control over their population: a CBDC.
Senator Warren herself has even proposed legislation that would effectively ban bitcoin mining in the United States by treating miners the same as financial institutions by requiring anti-money laundering regulations even though miners do not hold any customer asset. As she well knows, if there are no bitcoin miners, there are no bitcoin transactions, and the path to a CBDC would be much easier without private alternatives.
The good news for Bitcoiners this November is that they have a clear alternative. This is essential because a hugecrypto-views-before-voting-poll/”>third of voters
The choice is clear. President Trump will protect his right to own bitcoin, mine bitcoin, transact bitcoin, and, for many of us, to work in the bitcoin industry. We believe he will support the ability of bitcoin miners to help revolutionize the financial and energy industries in the United States and maintain American economic leadership for the future. And he will ban a CBDC, protect self-custody, and prevent out-of-control regulators from trying to put us out of business. If you are a Bitcoiner, President Trump is the best candidate this year to, dare I say, make bitcoin great again in the eyes of the US government.
Brian Morgenstern is the head of public policy at Riot Platforms. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury and deputy White House press secretary.
This is a guest post by Brian Morgenstern. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of btc Inc or bitcoin Magazine.
