Charlie Kirk has been assassinated, and the United States has lost its best promoter of Bitcoin to young people.

Written by David, TechFlow

On September 10th, a bullet ended the life of one of the most influential Bitcoin evangelists in the United States.

Charlie Kirk, 31, may not be the most well-known name in the crypto world; he is not a developer, an exchange founder, or a crypto fund manager.

But he may be the most effective person to spread the idea of ​​Bitcoin to young Americans.

As the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization with influence on thousands of campuses, Kirk brought the idea of ​​"Bitcoin is free money" to millions of college students who had never been exposed to cryptocurrency.

“Every student should at least understand how Bitcoin works,” Kirk said in a 2024 campus address. “If you don’t understand it, you’re going to be ruled by those who do.”

On the afternoon he collapsed, he was answering questions from students at Utah Valley University about mass shootings in the U.S. Ironically, minutes later, he himself became the latest victim of that problem.

After the incident, many people lamented that Kirk was one of the few mainstream voices who truly understood Bitcoin. This is a huge loss for crypto evangelism.

Bitcoin Evangelist

Why Charlie Kirk has attracted millions of young people to Bitcoin?

In 2012, at the age of 18, Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA with Bill Montgomery, an organization focused on promoting conservative values ​​on campus. After more than a decade of development, TPUSA has established chapters in over 3,000 high schools and colleges across the United States, with over 650,000 lifetime student members, according to the organization's website .

Kirk's signature event is the "Prove Me Wrong" campus debate, in which he invites students with dissenting political views to challenge his views in person.

Originally, these debates focused on traditional political issues—free speech, gun rights, immigration policy. But during the 2024 election cycle, a new theme frequently appeared in Kirk's discussions: Bitcoin.

Kirk’s genius lies in not promoting Bitcoin as an investment or technology, but rather integrating it into his existing political narrative.

“Cryptocurrencies and Christians are two threats to the New World Order,” Kirk said on his radio show . In his context, the “New World Order” represents the globalist control he opposes, while being a “threat” to it means defending freedom.

“You can have a currency that’s not controlled by the federal government, that’s in direct competition with the U.S. Treasury, and that’s how it should be.” To his audience, this way of putting it immediately made it clear that this wasn’t a discussion about blockchain technology, but about individual freedom versus government control.

During campus debates, when students ask about inflation and the cost of living, Kirk naturally brings up Bitcoin:

“Your generation is facing the greatest currency devaluation in history. Bitcoin’s 21 million cap means no one can print money and dilute your wealth.”

He used the economic pressures that students felt firsthand, such as student loans, housing prices, and inflation, as entry points to make Bitcoin part of the solution.

Kirk further fueled this narrative during the 2024 election cycle.

According to TheStreet, “Kirk has been a vocal advocate for pro-cryptocurrency policies in student activism, often describing digital assets as a generational hedge against inflation and regulation.”

This ability to transform technical issues into a battle to defend freedom has attracted the attention of liberal arts students who have no interest in programming to Bitcoin.

Three key encryption perspectives

“Bitcoin is more honest than the US dollar.”

One of Kirk’s most impactful points about cryptocurrencies also comes from a statement he made on his radio show: “Bitcoin has more integrity than the dollar in some ways.”

According to Media Matters, he explained: "From being able to know how many bitcoins exist, to the ledger, to the blockchain technology."

This perspective cleverly avoids technical details and directly appeals to moral judgment. Kirk contrasts Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million coins with the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing policy, helping young people understand that this is not just a technical difference, but also a question of integrity.

"If you don't understand, just wait to be ruled by those who do."

During the 2024 election cycle, Kirk positioned cryptocurrencies as an economic weapon for the younger generation. He often described digital assets as a generational hedge against inflation and regulation.

In his framework, the traditional financial system is portrayed as a game that is disadvantageous to young people, while Bitcoin represents a completely new opportunity.

Hence the highly influential sentence at the beginning of the article: If you don’t understand, just wait to be ruled by those who do; it also elevates encryption to the level of a battle to protect intergenerational wealth.

Kirk also connected the issue to a broader political struggle. “We have $35 trillion in debt,” he said on the broadcast. “Like it or not, crypto is happening, and Donald Trump is on the right side of crypto.”

He noted that politicians opposing cryptocurrencies are "controlled by big banks," portraying the situation as a grassroots struggle against vested interests.

"Bitcoin can save national debt."

Kirk's most radical and controversial view appeared in July 2025. According to a video interview posted by The Bitcoin Conference on the X platform, Charlie Kirk said that Bitcoin could repay national debt and make up for deficit losses.

Although this view is controversial in economics, it has successfully elevated Bitcoin from a personal investment tool to the level of a national strategic asset.

This echoes the idea of ​​establishing a "national strategic Bitcoin reserve" proposed by the Trump administration at the time. Kirk also reported on this policy proposal on his website, saying that the price of Bitcoin soared after Trump announced the establishment of the strategic reserve.

The three core ideas above form the basis of Kirk's encryption sermon:

Being more honest than the US dollar gives Bitcoin moral superiority; promoting intergenerational justice turns encryption into a weapon for young people; and saving debt coincides with the president's spirit.

From campus to the White House

Kirk's close relationship with the Trump family is no secret. According to The New York Times, Kirk has a close relationship with Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., which gives him direct access to influence policy.

And when it comes to cryptocurrency, this influence has produced substantial results.

On July 27, 2024, Trump delivered a historic speech at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville. Kirk retweeted the moment on his X account: "President Trump said at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference that the United States will become the cryptocurrency capital of the planet and the world's Bitcoin superpower."

This isn't just retweets; Kirk's organization, Turning Point Action, is making cryptocurrency policy one of its key issues to mobilize young voters throughout the 2024 election cycle.

More importantly, Kirk helped mainstream the concept of a “national strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

In March 2025, when Trump officially announced the plan, Kirk wrote on his website: "After years of corrupt attacks by the Biden administration, the US crypto reserve will boost this critical industry."

Before the 2024 election, Kirk embarked on a campus tour titled "You're Being Brainwashed." Public data shows that the tour visited approximately 25 college campuses and generated approximately 2 billion viral views on social media. Forbes reported that the tour was credited with playing a "key role" in helping Trump win the election.

Notably, Kirk has even been indirectly involved in personnel decisions within the Trump administration.According to Forbes, Kirk assisted the president-elect in selecting government leadership positions, including cabinet posts. While there is no direct evidence that he influenced cryptocurrency-related appointments, his overall influence cannot be ignored.

By integrating Bitcoin into the broader conservative agenda, Kirk not only broadened the cryptocurrency’s audience base but also shifted the political discourse surrounding it. This was a double-edged sword, bringing mainstream attention and political support to the cryptocurrency but also embroiling it in the increasingly polarized political landscape of the United States.

The road to crypto education is long and arduous

Kirk's death left a void that was difficult to fill.

He occupies an extremely unique position: he is neither a technologist nor a financial tycoon, but a political activist with a huge network of young people who happens to truly believe in Bitcoin.

In 2016, he was the youngest speaker at the Republican National Convention, and he was also the opening speaker in 2020; Wikipedia shows that his podcast is often among the top ten in Apple News rankings.

This combination of mainstream political status, sincere belief in Bitcoin, and widespread influence is almost unparalleled in the American political spectrum.

Looking back at Kirk’s success, it proves at least one thing: what is needed to make the mainstream population accept Bitcoin is not more technical white papers, but better storytellers.

By being shot while discussing the impact of the shooting, Kirk may be serving as a reminder of the real risks of being a public advocate in today's highly polarized American environment. When technology issues are drawn into heated ideological battles, advocates can become targets.

Kirk is gone, but the question he raised remains: How can Bitcoin truly go mainstream?

Kirk can no longer answer this question. But the question he raised with his life deserves deep consideration by everyone who cares about the future of cryptocurrency.

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