Trump proposed a cryptocurrency plan during his reelection campaign, promising to protect the rights of digital assets. The Republican Party did not include encryption technology in its priority areas, but Trump said innovation should be promoted. He promised to fire the SEC chairman, establish a strategic reserve of Bitcoin , and dominate Bitcoin mining. The Republican Party proposed a legal framework for digital assets, which was seen as a victory for the industry. Trump called on the United States to produce all remaining Bitcoins and opposed the establishment of a central bank digital currency. He also promised to reduce the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Dark Web market Silk Road.
Original title: All of Trump's Crypto Promises, From Boosting Bitcoin Mining to Firing Gensler
Original source: decrypt
Original article by: André Beganski
Compiled by: Mars Finance, Eason
Former President Donald Trump had grand plans for cryptocurrencies during his campaign and made multiple promises during his re-election campaign while trying to reach out to digital asset owners.
Speaking of emerging industries, crypto was not listed among the 20 core goals of the official Republican Party’s 2024 platform .
He also did not mention the topic during his interview with Elon Musk on Monday. However, in a draft document released in July this year , cryptography was listed as a focus area along with artificial intelligence. According to the candidate, both are areas where innovation should be promoted to build "the greatest economy in history."
Trump's campaign platform document states: "The Republican Party will end the Democrats' illegal, un-American cryptocurrency suppression and oppose the creation of a central bank digital currency. We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin and ensure that every American has the right to keep their own digital assets and trade them without government surveillance and control."
While this quote encapsulates much of Trump’s propaganda about cryptocurrencies at the time, Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to speak out on digital assets on the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential candidate list. Trump confirmed on Truth Social that he is “very positive and open” to cryptocurrency companies. This includes “everything related to this emerging industry,” he wrote.
The former president has addressed several other issues related to the cryptocurrency industry ahead of the November election. Some of his pledges focus on individuals, while others seek to introduce Bitcoin to Washington in novel ways.
Ending the “crypto crackdown”
Trump’s aforementioned “crypto crackdown” is likely to focus on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has taken a series of aggressive enforcement actions after the FTX crash in 2022. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is increasingly a target of Trump’s attacks, as he is bent on opposing industry players’ failure to comply with securities laws.
Trump said in May that he was “supportive” of cryptocurrencies, signaling his transition from skeptic to defender . The former president has positioned himself as the antithesis of President Joe Biden and Gensler, who Trump claims are “very opposed” to cryptocurrencies, as well as other Democrats.
The former president later vowed at a recent Bitcoin conference in Nashville that he would “fire Gary Gensler” if re-elected — a speech that, unsurprisingly, drew the loudest cheers. However, Gensler’s term runs until 2026, and Trump does not have the power to remove Gensler from his position without cause.
“I promise the Bitcoin community that the day I’m sworn in, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ anti-crypto campaign will end,” Trump vowed in Nashville. “It will end. It will be done.”
More friendly regulation
Lawmakers in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a legal framework for the digital assets industry in May and, after extensive debate, introduced a landmark crypto bill in the U.S. Senate.
The bill, which demarcates regulatory jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission while providing a way for digital asset issuers to self-certify their assets as commodities, was seen as a major victory for the cryptocurrency industry.
Trump said in Nashville that if re-elected, he would set up a presidential advisory commission to ensure a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies becomes law.
“Their task is to design transparent regulatory guidelines that benefit the entire industry, and they will do that in 100 days,” he said. “We will have regulations, but from now on, the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not people who hate your industry.”
Building a strategic reserve of Bitcoin
In the same speech, Trump pledged to turn the United States into the global capital of cryptocurrency while making the United States the "world's Bitcoin superpower." Part of this plan involves a strategic Bitcoin reserve , where the United States will hold 100% of all Bitcoin it owns. A large portion of these assets come from assets seized by law enforcement in criminal cases.
Trump’s promise is somewhat similar to the “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” proposed by Senator Cynthia Loomis (R-WY). Under her plan , the U.S. government would purchase Bitcoin in batches over a certain period of time to build a strategic reserve of 1 million Bitcoins.
Dominate Bitcoin Mining
The former president called for “all remaining Bitcoin to be produced in the United States” after meeting with executives of publicly traded bitcoin miners in June. However, since miners are spread across the globe, isolating them from the open network is not an easy task .
In Trump's view, Bitcoin miners can help the United States maintain "energy dominance." Writing on Truth Social, Trump contrasted his position with that of Biden, who was still running for office at the time, saying that "hatred for Bitcoin" would only help America's opponents, such as China and Russia.
Trump later said in Nashville: "If cryptocurrency is going to determine the future, I want it to be mined, minted and made in the United States. It's not going to be made anywhere else."
Cryptocurrency Self-Custody
“Not your keys, not your crypto” is an important motto among Bitcoin enthusiasts, who often argue that using a self-custodial wallet (which requires maintaining private keys) is the best option rather than storing your assets on centralized exchanges like Coinbase.
"I will always defend the right of self-custody," Trump said last month. "We will power your industry, not destroy your industry."
Trump’s focus on self-custody aligns with legislation introduced by Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), who introduced the Keep Your Coin Act in the Senate last year, which would prohibit restrictions on Americans’ ability to transact through self-custodial crypto wallets.
The Republican lawmakers’ legislation contradicts a measure proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in 2022. The bill, called the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, would require crypto market participants to identify and track users with self-protected wallets. This includes crypto wallet service providers, miners, and validators, among others.
Rejection of CBDC
The former president has warned of the dangers of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), echoing conservatives like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN).
Trump has vowed to protect Americans from the technology, even though Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently said the U.S. central bank is " really not " considering implementing it.
CBDCs are similar to stablecoins in that they are digital assets pegged to the price of a fiat currency such as the U.S. dollar. However, instead of being issued by private companies on a public network, CBDCs are controlled by their respective governments.
“There will never be a CBDC during my tenure as president of the United States,” Trump said in Nashville, calling the technology an imminent threat to financial privacy. “Forget it.”
Emmer’s CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act was passed by the House of Representatives in May, prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing CBDC without congressional approval, and was subsequently referred to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.
Freeing Ross Ulbricht
At the Libertarian Party National Convention in May, Trump promised to commute the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, who founded the Dark Web marketplace Silk Road in 2011.
Ulbricht, who allowed users to buy and sell illegal goods and services using Bitcoin, was sentenced in 2015 for operating a service used primarily to obtain drugs. He was charged with drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.
“He’s served 11 years,” Trump said of Ulbricht. “We’re going to get him home.”
