2024 election
- Trump embraced crypto during the campaign and pledged to make the United States a “Bitcoin superpower.”
- Bitcoin hit an all-time high as the results came in.
- Gary Gensler’s crackdown will end quickly in the new administration.
Crypto will never be the same.
Donald Trump, the former president who embraced Bitcoin and its ilk this spring and even launched his own DeFi protocol, has made big promises to the industry.
Early Wednesday morning, the Associated Press called Wisconsin in favor of Trump, meaning the former president would have to clear the 270 electoral votes needed to win back the White House.
His supporters in the crypto market will expect him to deliver on his promises, but for now, crypto bros couldn’t be happier that he won.
“All the liberals clutching their pearls about the pro-crypto lobby were right,” Nic Carter, a prominent crypto investor, wrote early Wednesday morning on X. “We are to be feared. We will do it again next cycle.
Bitcoin surged almost 10% between Tuesday and Wednesday morning and hit an all-time high of $75,358 early in the morning UK time.
If Trump keeps his promises, he augurs a crypto-friendly regime change in the White House.
Overturning long-standing doubts about cryptocurrencies, Trump delivered the keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, in July.
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The Republican leader was cheered by a packed house when he promised to fire Gary Gensler, the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, who is cracking down on the sector.
And he promised to create a strategic reserve of Bitcoin holdings to augment the Federal Reserve.
Introducing Bitcoin as part of his “America First” agenda, Trump said he would make the United States a “Bitcoin superpower.” In one fell swoop, he made crypto a serious campaign issue in the 2024 election.
90 year old laws
“If you are pro-crypto, you will vote for Trump,” the former president said at a May event at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
The industry believed him.
For stalwarts such as Coinbase, Ripple and Kraken – each of which was sued by the SEC – Trump was a tonic.
For years, they and other crypto executives have advocated to lawmakers in Washington for legislation that would recognize the exceptional nature of the sector and regulate it with tailored rules.
Instead, they found themselves saddled with Gensler who vowed to force them to comply with 90-year-old laws designed to regulate stocks and bonds.
Silver Wall
In Trump, they had found a political leader who seemed willing to give them everything they wanted.
Not surprisingly, these companies, along with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and the Winklevoss brothers, have invested a political action committee called Fairshake with funds to support like-minded candidates from both parties in the 2024 campaign .
According to Follow the Crypto, a campaign contribution tracker, Fairshake has raised more than $162 million.
Thanks to the sheer power of cash, crypto has become a talking point on Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump’s platforms. Both candidates have demonstrated a willingness to engage with the industry’s top executives rather than shy away from them.
Whether it was money or Trump’s embrace of crypto, the Harris campaign was quick to distance itself from the Biden administration and showed signs it was open to a crypto reset. industry.
Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor and Harris supporter, has advised the Harris team on crypto issues. The same goes for Anthony Scaramucci, the hedge fund manager and former Trump White House aide who also supported the Democratic candidate.
For Trump, crypto became another product he could put his name on. He sold a limited line of gold high-top sneakers emblazoned with a Bitcoin symbol and the words “Trump crypto President” for $500 a pair.
And in September, Trump and his sons launched a token issuance for their own nascent DeFi platform: World Liberty Financial, which is purportedly a stablecoin issuer. However, in evaluating its plan, many in DeFi found the company “megacringe.”
Promises made
Now that the election is effectively over, attention will turn to Trump’s choices to lead regulatory agencies, which will set the tone for his administration’s stance on crypto.
A common way for presidents to do this is to issue executive orders. So, under President Trump, an executive order could be issued directing the federal government to foster innovation, including cryptography.
Trump will also appoint the heads of agencies like the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Currently, the terms of both officials end in 2026, but it is common for them to resign if their agendas conflict with that of a new commander in chief.
After Trump became president in 2017, his choices to lead these agencies were not MAGA extremists, but often prominent former businessmen or lawyers with impressive resumes.
Among them were former CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert and former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, both of whom worked in the crypto industry. Tarbert is general counsel and head of corporate affairs at Circle, and Clayton has advised the industry.
Updated on November 6 to report the Associated Press called Trump’s victory. The headline was also changed to indicate that the former president had indeed been re-elected.
Joanna Wright is DL News‘ regulatory correspondent, and Ben Weiss is DL News” Correspondent based in Dubai. Contact Joanna at joanna@dlnews.comand contact Ben at bweiss@dlnews.com.
