Under the ballot, determined to become the "Crypto President".
By Chandler, Foresight News
On July 22, 2024, the current President of the United States, Biden, announced his withdrawal from the 2024 U.S. presidential election and will not seek re-election. He plans to complete the remaining term, which will end on January 20, 2025. He published an open letter on social media stating, "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your president. Although I have been intending to run for re-election, I believe that my withdrawal and focusing on fulfilling the remaining term as president is in the best interest of our party and country. Today, I offer my full support and recognition to Vice President Kamala Harris as the nominee."
During Biden's tenure, the U.S. government's regulation of the crypto industry has mainly leaned towards a cautious attitude, emphasizing the improvement of regulations. This is closely related to the previous bear market and the chain of liquidation caused by the collapse of FTX. In March 2022, Biden signed an executive order on ensuring responsible innovation in digital assets, outlining the U.S. government's cryptocurrency strategy, guiding federal agencies to review potential regulatory changes, and released a comprehensive digital asset development framework in September 2022. In March 2023, the U.S. "2023 President's Economic Report" concluded that "cryptocurrencies pose too much risk to be used as a payment tool or to expand financial inclusion," and "these assets seem likely to continue to exist, and they will continue to pose risks to financial markets, investors, and consumers." Subsequently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) conducted severe enforcement actions against crypto entities such as Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase.
In 2024, the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF gave the market hope for relaxed policies. However, in May, the Biden administration chose to veto the resolution to overturn SEC's cryptocurrency accounting standard SAB 121, which prevented heavily regulated U.S. banks from custodial services for digital assets, leading to strong opposition from crypto supporters. At that time, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, who supported the cryptocurrency industry, stated, "U.S. President Joe Biden's decision to veto the controversial cryptocurrency accounting standard missed the opportunity to correct his position on cryptocurrency assets. I will not stand idly by and will continue to work to promote financial innovation."
As the election approaches, the Biden administration has sought to ease its regulatory stance, including approving the listing of Ethereum spot ETF, but has not gained much support from the crypto community. On the other hand, Trump has been waving the flag of "Crypto President," continuously demonstrating his support for the crypto industry to cater to voters.
From a crypto opponent to criticizing Biden's crypto policies
In fact, in the early years, Trump was firmly opposed to crypto assets. In 2019, he even stated on Twitter, "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They are not money, their value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate illegal behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activities…" In 2021, he also referred to Bitcoin as a scam against the U.S. dollar and stated that he would not be surprised if it fell below $6,000.
However, in this election cycle, Trump has gradually confirmed his favorable attitude towards the crypto community and, together with the Republican Party, has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration's tough stance.
Trump once criticized Biden for not understanding cryptocurrency at all and posted on his social media platform Truth Social, "I have a very positive and open attitude towards cryptocurrency companies and anything related to this emerging industry. America must be the leader in this field, not second. On the other hand, the worst president in American history, Joe Biden, hopes that this industry will slowly and painfully die. This will never happen to me!"
At the Libertarian National Convention, Trump promised that if re-elected, he would commute and release Ross Ulbricht, the creator of "Silk Road." "If you vote for me, on my first day in office, I will change Ross Ulbricht's sentence to a limited term. He has been in prison for 11 years, and we will send him home." In addition, he stated that he would ensure the future of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin in the United States, not overseas; support the self-custody rights of 50 million American cryptocurrency holders; firmly oppose the creation of central bank digital currencies, which has been an important policy advocated by the Democratic Party; stop Biden's actions to destroy cryptocurrencies; and keep Bitcoin opponent Elizabeth Warren away from Bitcoin.
In June, Trump met with several Bitcoin mining representatives at the Mar-a-Lago estate. Matthew Schultz, the CEO of Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark Inc., stated that Trump expressed his love and understanding of cryptocurrency and emphasized that Bitcoin mining companies help stabilize the energy supply of the power grid. He also emphasized that he would speak up for miners in the White House. This meeting, known as the "presidential-level roundtable meeting for Bitcoin mining," was attended by participants from publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies CleanSpark and Riot Platforms, as well as Marathon Digital and other well-known industry participants. Key figures included CleanSpark's S Matthew Schultz, Riot Platforms' Jason Les and Brian Morgenstern, Marathon Digital's CFO Salman Khan, and Amanda Fabiano from Fabiano Consulting (former mining executive at Galaxy and former director at Fidelity).
This move is actually a response to Biden's attitude towards the crypto mining industry. The Biden administration's proposed fiscal year 2025 budget states that crypto mining activities have a negative impact on the environment, affecting environmental justice, and will raise the total energy costs for crypto miners to 30%, applicable to the electricity supplied by the grid and the electricity generated by miners themselves. The plan will be implemented in stages, with a 10% tax from 2025, 20% from 2026, and finally 30% from 2027. Biden had previously proposed a similar tax plan last year, but it failed to become law after not being passed by the House and Senate.
Showing goodwill to crypto voters from multiple angles
In order to attract more support from the crypto community, Trump's campaign team announced that they would start accepting cryptocurrency donations, stating that this was to unite those who "oppose the Biden administration's control of the U.S. financial markets." According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump's campaign team raised a total of $331 million in the second quarter, with cryptocurrency donations accounting for about 1%, most of which were in Bitcoin and Ethereum, totaling about $3 million. From May to the end of June, about 100 people donated cryptocurrency to Trump's campaign team.
Data shows that donors from the crypto industry have donated $94 million to the Federal Election Commission since 2023, exceeding the $83 million donated in the previous election cycle. Most of the donations come from the main channels of Trump's fundraising Political Action Committee (PAC). Coinbase and Ripple Labs donated $20.5 million and $20 million, respectively. In addition, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each donated $9 million to Fairshake, and billionaire twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss each donated $2.5 million. Coinbase Global CEO Brian Armstrong donated $1 million.
In addition to accepting campaign donations, Trump also plans to speak at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville at the end of July. According to CryptoSlate, sources revealed that Trump may make a milestone statement at the conference, planning to position Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset for the United States.
On specific policy support, the Republican Party expressed support for several measures favorable to crypto policies in its official party platform for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, vowing to end the "illegal and un-American attacks" on the U.S. crypto industry. In addition to opposing the creation of CBDC, the platform also promises to "defend the right to mine Bitcoin" and allow crypto holders to self-custody their tokens, stating "we will defend the right to transact without government supervision and control."
Meanwhile, Trump has appointed Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Vance, a former venture capitalist, has publicly supported cryptocurrencies on multiple occasions, criticized the SEC's regulatory approach, and last month drafted legislation to reform the regulation of digital assets. In his annual report submitted last year, he disclosed that he holds between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of Bitcoin through Coinbase.
According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, he has met with over 10 Democratic and Republican senators from Washington D.C. to discuss establishing clear rules for the crypto industry and providing consumer protection for crypto users. Additionally, he stated that with the passage of the "21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act" (FIT21) in the House of Representatives, both parties in the Senate have "strong momentum" to complete this work. "It's great to see the voices of cryptocurrency voters having an impact."
Overall, Trump's pro-crypto stance is having a profound impact on the development of the crypto market and the U.S. presidential election. However, this supportive stance also comes with complexity. In the context of the U.S. presidential election, Trump's pro-crypto stance may attract support from some crypto enthusiasts and tech industry professionals. However, considering his changing stance on cryptocurrency issues, there is still uncertainty about the stability and execution of his policies, which could lead to market fluctuations and regulatory uncertainty.
Nevertheless, his stance has undoubtedly boosted his support. According to data compiled by polling company Echelon Insights, among those who do not intend to vote for Trump, 13% of them have a more positive view of him due to his cryptocurrency position. The survey also shows that the majority of respondents (60%) believe that Congress needs to enact regulations for cryptocurrency businesses, and Republicans generally dislike the current operation of the financial system. For the development of the crypto industry, this may be a fortunate turn of events. As 10x Research suggests, there currently seems to be no strong candidate challenging Trump. For Bitcoin, this means a government supportive of cryptocurrencies will be in the White House. Historical experience indicates that the SEC chairman usually resigns when a new government takes office. Although the current SEC chairman Gary Gensler's term will continue until June 5, 2026, he is likely to resign in January or February 2025.
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