Former President Donald Trump on Saturday slammed Vice President Kamala Harris over the Biden administration’s approach to cryptocurrency regulation and announced a sweeping set of industry-friendly policies, as he sought to win over the bitcoin faithful.
Speaking at a major crypto conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump sought to tie Harris to the Biden administration’s tough regulatory approach to the digital asset industry. Though Harris hasn't taken a public position and her team is ramping up outreach to the crypto world, Trump said she is “against crypto."
Trump endorsed an array of policies to boost crypto firms. Among the ideas: having the government hold a stockpile of bitcoin, creating a crypto advisory council, installing a crypto-friendly Securities and Exchange Commission chair and blocking the Federal Reserve from creating its own digital currency.
“I pledge to the bitcoin community that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ anti-crypto crusade will be over,” he said. “The moment I’m sworn in, the persecution stops and the weaponization ends against your industry.”
Trump’s appearance at the Bitcoin 2024 conference cemented his embrace of the crypto industry, which is lobbying hard in Washington and planning to spend more than $160 million to sway this year's elections. The ascension of Harris is poised to complicate his pitch. Her campaign is showing signs of opening up to the industry, and some Democrats are pushing her to break from the Biden administration's more skeptical approach.
Trump vowed to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has pursued a series of high-profile crypto enforcement actions and has warned that digital asset trading poses big investor risks. Trump also pledged to enact policies to support stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to other assets like the dollar.
“We will have regulations, but from now on the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” he said.
Trump was greeted with raucous applause, including when he vowed to fire Gensler.
“I didn’t know he was that unpopular,” Trump said.
Trump heaped praise on the crowd, calling them “highly intelligent,” and criticized crypto skeptics like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), whom he singled out by name.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of crypto and bitcoin is wrong, and it’s very bad for our country,” he said.
Trump himself is a former crypto critic, but he did not acknowledge his past comments in his speech. He wrote in 2019 that he was "not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air."
Trump began explicitly embracing the crypto industry in May. He has since cashed in on his crypto stance, hosting crypto executives at fundraisers and his Mar-a-Lago resort. Ahead of his speech on Saturday, Trump participated in a fundraiser at the bitcoin conference with an $844,600 asking price to attend a VIP reception, roundtable and to get a photo with the former president, according to an online invitation. A lower-tier ticket that went for $60,000 per person or $100,000 per couple allowed attendees to just attend the reception and get a photo with Trump.
Trump, who appeared on stage Saturday afternoon after an extensive delay, singled out several figures in the crypto world at the start of his speech. They included the Winklevoss twins, whom he dubbed “male models with a big beautiful brain," Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, who is vying to lead the House Financial Services Committee next year, and David Bailey, who organized the conference.
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