At 18:11 Eastern Time on July 13, former US President Trump, a favorite for the presidential election, was attacked at a presidential election campaign rally in Pennsylvania. As several gunshots rang out, the calls for Trump to win the election reached an unprecedented level.
As the suspense of the US election gradually became clear, the assassination incident also became a catalyst for market trends. Cryptocurrency rebounded immediately, quickly breaking through 60,000 US dollars and once reaching 65,000 US dollars.
Two days after the assassination attempt, Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that he had chosen Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential candidate. Vance has been a long-time supporter of crypto technology and has publicly disclosed that he owns more than $200,000 in crypto assets. He appreciates the freedom that cryptocurrencies provide through their anti-censorship properties. The nomination of Vance has undoubtedly strengthened the Trump camp's belief in cryptocurrencies.
During his previous presidency, Trump appointed several officials who were friendly to cryptocurrencies. This may be one of the reasons why crypto assets collectively rose when Trump's election prospects improved.
Several crypto-friendly people have served in the Trump administration
JD Vance, Trump's vice president in the 2014 election, is a supporter of cryptocurrency. In addition to owning crypto assets, he has also publicly criticized the US SEC's excessive regulation of cryptocurrencies.
JD Vance voted in the Senate to repeal the SAB-121 accounting standard, which the cryptocurrency industry is extremely opposed to, and plans to propose a more friendly cryptocurrency regulatory bill.
During his previous presidency, Trump appointed several crypto-friendly people to important positions.
On July 21, 2017, Anthony Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge Capital, was appointed as the director of communications for Trump's White House. Skybridge Capital is a hedge fund company that manages $3.5 billion in assets, nearly half of which are related to crypto assets. Its founder Anthony Scaramucci is also a staunch supporter and advocate of Bitcoin.
On December 15, 2018, Trump appointed Bitcoin supporter Mick Mulvaney as White House Chief of Staff. Mick Mulvaney is a cryptocurrency supporter and advocate. When he worked in the House of Representatives, he was one of the people who worked to create the Blockchain Caucus (the Blockchain Caucus is a group of legislators who write and make new laws for emerging technologies such as cryptocurrency) and helped draft two new legislative bills to support the development and evolution of the blockchain industry-House Resolution 1108 and House Resolution 7002.
In April 2020, Trump appointed billionaire and blockchain supporter Mark Cuban as an advisor to the Trump administration. Mark Cuban, known as the Bitcoin tycoon for his bold advocacy of cryptocurrency investment, compared the cryptocurrency landscape to the explosive growth during the Internet boom in the 1990s, emphasizing its potential for huge returns.
On June 4, 2020, Trump nominated Hester Peirce, a commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for a second term. Peirce has earned the nickname “Crypto Mom” for her support of digital assets (and criticism of excessive regulation of crypto assets).
The presidential family that likes to issue NFTs
The Trump family also likes to issue crypto assets.
Former First Lady Melania was the first in the Trump family to actively embrace cryptocurrency. Melania launched her first NFT "Head of State" collection through her website in late 2021, priced at 1 Sol, which was about $185 at the time, and released on Solana.
When asked about Melania's NFT in an interview with Fox, Trump said: "She will do well. She has a rich imagination."
Since leaving the White House, Trump has been adept at using his name to profit from his brand, and the crypto market, which is easily manipulated by personal influence, has become the best stage for this.
Following the example of his wife, Trump began to embrace NFT. In December 2022, he announced the release of a limited edition Trump digital trading card NFT on truth social. The NFT was minted on Polygon and sold for $99. It was sold out immediately after its release. According to OpenSea data, a total of 45,000 NFTs were traded for more than 648 ETH, or about $785,000, and its floor price once reached 0.84 ETH.
Since then, the issuance of Trump series NFTs has been unstoppable, with the launch of "Win Trump Prizes", the second series of "Trump Digital Trading Cards" and "Mugshot Edition", and enabling NFT rights including dinner with Trump, video calls, and golf. According to relevant documents, Trump earned US$2.8 million through NFT sales.
In the face of American society led by Generation Z youth, the cryptocurrency crowd has become an important influential force.
According to Coinbase data, 52 million Americans own cryptocurrencies in 2023, accounting for 20% of the adult population in the United States. In this general trend, in order to maximize political goals and business interests, and to win votes, Trump has become a "sudden crypto supporter."
In his campaign speech, Trump said that if he became the president of the United States again, he would never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). He believed that this would give the government absolute control over funds. On May 9, he officially accepted donations to the US presidential campaign in the form of cryptocurrency. This move also won Trump a lot of support and secured a firm foothold in the general election.
Amnesty for crypto people
Before leaving office in 2021, Trump pardoned Ripple board member Ken Kurson.
According to the New York Times, Trump took a private jet provided by a scrap metal recycling giant and a cryptocurrency miner to meet with supporters in late 2021.
This time, in order to attract many young American votes, Trump promised the public in May that if he won the election, he would pardon Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, and emphasized his support for the right to self-custody. This undoubtedly aroused widespread consensus in the crypto community. After all, Ross was once a martyr in the eyes of many cryptocurrency enthusiasts and libertarians.
In addition, Trump’s recent public statements on the encryption field have also won the support of the U.S. encryption industry.
Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell once wrote that he donated $1 million to Trump as an individual, mainly in ETH.
Following the attack on Trump, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey publicly stated plans to raise $15 million for former US President Trump’s re-election campaign later this month.
Musk, the "father of Dogecoin," publicly expressed his support for Trump for the first time and pledged to donate approximately $45 million per month to a new super political action committee to support Trump's presidential campaign.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Gemini's two co-founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, each donated $250,000 to Trump Super PAC (Trump Super Political Action Committee).
Meanwhile, the Trump Super PAC, previously backed by Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale and cryptocurrency billionaires Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss, raised $8.8 million in the second quarter of this year, according to public data.
The crypto-attitude shift may be a political tool
Some crypto experts who are well versed in American politics are not buying into Trump's recent positive crypto remarks.
In his recent blog post "Hot Chick", Arthur Hayes criticized Trump's "sudden interest in cryptocurrency" as insincere, saying that "appealing to the young, politically active and upstart cryptocurrency community" was just a means for Trump to win the election. He also predicted that once Trump takes office, his so-called support and concern for cryptocurrency "will become a distant memory."
The criticism from the crypto community doesn’t stop there.
As early as May this year, at the Trump NFT dinner, Trump was pointed out that he was not really proficient in cryptocurrency policy. In nearly an hour, only a few questions in Trump's speech focused on cryptocurrency, and his understanding of cryptocurrency policy was sporadic and not worth scrutinizing. When asked how he would change the policy of expelling the crypto industry from the country, he said: "We will stop it because I don't want that. I hope that if we are going to embrace it, then we must keep them here", and such an answer obviously did not give specific policy directions and measures.
Regarding Trump's sudden change in attitude towards cryptocurrencies, some senior people and observers in the crypto community also pointed out that Trump's attitude towards cryptocurrencies in the past was not friendly, and he even publicly declared that Bitcoin was a scam and called for stricter regulation. Now that his position has taken a 180-degree turn, it is hard not to doubt the motives behind it. As Arthur Hayes and others have criticized, Trump's positive crypto remarks may just be a temporary political show. Once elected, whether he will really fulfill his promise and bring substantial benefits to the cryptocurrency industry remains an unknown.
Despite the shooting, Trump said he would still deliver a speech at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference as scheduled. It remains to be seen whether the content of his speech will bring deeper crypto insights and future policies.
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