Although Bitcoiners were likely hoping to take a victory lap after Donald Trump's speech at Bitcoin Nashville last weekend, it turned out to be a dim week for the top cryptocurrency, finishing the week down more than 10% and dipping below $60,000 on Saturday amid heaps of liquidations and growing fears of a U.S. recession.
Meanwhile, Crypto Twitter continued to argue over whether the former president's embrace of crypto was meaningful, or merely pandering. Gemini co-founders and Trump supporters Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss hailed the appearance, with the latter tweeting that “real engagement starts with showing up.”
Others who saw both Trump and the independent candidate for U.S. president, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, at the conference said there was no comparison: Kennedy was "the real pro-Bitcoin candidate," in the words of Swan Bitcoin lead analyst Sam Callahan.
Timing was certainly everything when on Monday, the U.S. government shifted $2 billion in Bitcoin seized from dark web marketplace Silk Road. To some Bitcoin fans, it seemed to be a direct rebuke of Trump's view that the government should “never sell” its BTC.
But while there was some of the usual panic seen anytime huge amounts of Bitcoin start moving, others took to Crypto Twitter to essentially tell people to calm down. “You guys freak out any time large coins move,” scoffed Adam Cochran, partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, who said the BTC transfer was not a surprise.
For all the debate over U.S. policy on crypto, it was Russia that next nabbed the spotlight, authorizing the use of Bitcoin for international settlements in an apparent move to dodge sanctions. The law is expected to take effect in September, though it would not legalize crypto use within the country.
But attention returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, when Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) officially introduced a bill to create a strategic U.S. Bitcoin reserve, as she promised in Nashville.
This week brought quarterly earnings reports from several crypto companies, including dominant exchange Coinbase, Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital, top stablecoin issuer Tether, and Jack Dorsey's Block.
On Thursday, MicroStrategy—the top institutional holder of Bitcoin—reported a $102 million quarterly loss. But co-founder Michael Saylor focused on the company's Bitcoin strategy, as its holdings grew to be worth more than $13 billion.
Finally, if anyone was concerned that Trump's promises on the Bitcoin conference stage would evaporate once he returned to the campaign trail, he gave another gift to Bitcoiners on Friday when he spoke effusively about crypto in a Fox News interview. In fact, taking a clue from Sen. Lummis, he said that Bitcoin could be a way for the U.S. to pay off its $35 trillion debt.
Intriguingly, the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris—with whom he is expected to face off in November—also called attention to his pro-Bitcoin remarks, but posted them without comment. Trump's Bitcoin boosterism, it seems, can also be framed as a liability to certain audiences.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
