Trump to attend Bitcoin conference

Trump attends

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will speak at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee later this month, conference organizers have announced.

Speculation that Trump would attend grew earlier in the day as speakers told media their speaking time was reallocated to make room for "a very special guest" described in the email.

Recently, a conference spokesperson revealed that former President Trump will deliver a 30-minute speech at 2 p.m. (Central Time, 19:00 UTC) on the last day of the conference, which will be held from July 25 to 27.

Trump has been leaning into Bitcoin and cryptocurrency rhetoric since publicly supporting the industry at an NFT party this spring. He has since incorporated pro-Bitcoin policies into the core Republican platform, in stark contrast to the Biden administration.

Trump’s upcoming speech could further burnish his image as a self-proclaimed supporter of cryptocurrencies, despite his skepticism about them before taking office. But he is now widely expected to appear at the annual Bitcoin gathering.

In this year's election year, Trump declared himself the "cryptocurrency candidate" at a party at Mar-a-Lago, and later announced that he would accept donations in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Solana.

His stance on cryptocurrencies has undergone a major shift. A few years ago, he denounced Bitcoin as a "scam against the dollar" and said central bank digital currencies were "very dangerous." In previous years, he said cryptocurrencies were "a disaster waiting to happen" and that he "didn't like it." But now he says he is "bullish" on cryptocurrencies.

Changing attitudes

President Biden’s reelection campaign is also considering accepting Bitcoin and cryptocurrency donations after hearing Trump make multiple pro-cryptocurrency comments during the campaign.

Not only that, but the Democratic Party’s attitude towards Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has also changed. Those who have traditionally opposed cryptocurrencies are now singing a more pro-crypto tune, distancing themselves from Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren’s hardline stance on Bitcoin.

Under Biden's leadership, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an unprecedented crypto market structure bill two months ago aimed at regulating the entire industry.

The cryptocurrency community is eager to see what the two leaders, especially Trump, think and do about cryptocurrencies. Trump has not yet announced how he plans to support the development of cryptocurrencies and blockchain through policy. However, he met with cryptocurrency miners last month and said that all remaining Bitcoin should be created in the United States.

While this does not mean that the crypto community is more inclined to support Trump than Biden, it is because the crypto community has a diverse demographic structure with a large number of millennials, Gen Z, and young professionals.

It is not too late for the Democrats to win over the support of the cryptocurrency community, but they are clearly running out of time. "If the Democratic Party and the Biden campaign propose a balanced policy and regulatory approach, they will still be able to attract many in the cryptocurrency community," the analyst said.

Megatrends

Cryptocurrency companies are pouring millions of dollars into political campaigns in this election year, a new trend that reflects a recognition that cryptocurrency has become a significant political topic whose future could be affected by the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

For example, Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, recently donated $25 million in June to support the super PAC Fairshake, which aims to help elect candidates favorable to digital assets by voting out anti-crypto politicians in Congress.

The Winklevoss twins, founders of cryptocurrency company Gemini, each donated 15.47 bitcoins, equivalent to $1 million, to support Donald Trump’s campaign in June. Tyler Winklevoss posted on X that President Biden’s Democratic administration is “openly at war on crypto,” while Cameron Winklevoss wrote that Trump is “pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, and pro-business.”

Jesse Powell, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, who donated $1 million to Trump’s campaign, wrote that a Biden administration would allow “unfettered regulation by law enforcement.”

It’s clear that the Trump campaign outdoes the Biden campaign in terms of cryptocurrency as a political issue in this election. He mentioned that the Biden campaign should do more to reach out to the cryptocurrency community.

Amid the election and cryptocurrency chaos, the more important question is how cryptocurrency will impact finance and our future. “Both candidates and both parties must recognize that cryptocurrency is here to stay and is integral to our national and economic future,” he said.