In a long feature, Bloomberg describes how Donald Trump has become a crypto fan.
Trump Bitcoin 2024: How NFTs Made Him a Crypto Cheerleader - Bloomberg
My reading: it’s based on his vanity.
The cryptoworld created a whole range of NFT trading cards of Trump a few years ago and, because it made a lot of money, he loved it. He loved it so much that he just did the main keynote at Bitcoin World 2024 in Nashville last Saturday.
What happened?
Here’s a quick summary.
‘The crowd erupted in applause when Donald Trump vowed to fire Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission chair, and replace him with regulators who love the digital-asset industry should he return to the White House.
“I pledge to the Bitcoin community that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris's anti-crypto crusade, it will end,” Trump told the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville on Saturday, comparing crypto to the steel industry a century ago. “If Bitcoin is going to the moon,” he added, “I want America to be the nation that leads the way.”
Why does he feel this way? Because Bill Zanker, founder of the adult-education company The Learning Annex and co-author of the 2007 book Think Big and Kick Ass with Trump pitched the idea of Trump Trading Cards a few years ago.
What are Trump Trading Cards?
They are basically non-fungible tokens (NFTs) but, rather than called it that, we call them Trump Trading Cards.
“Every picture, he approves,” Zanker said. “He spends hours on it. He enjoys it. He calls it pop art,” adding that the project inspired Trump to spend time studying crypto, asking a lot of questions to help him understand topics like how the Ethereum blockchain works.
The NFTs were a hit, with each new collection selling out in a matter of hours.
The result?
“He fell in love with this crowd: young, ambitious, not regulated,” Zanker said. “Somebody asked him, ‘what do you think of crypto?’ He said, ‘I like it, and I don't like it all going abroad.’ The crowd, of course, went wild.”
At one point, the topic of accepting campaign contributions in crypto form came up and Trump called his friend on stage.
“‘Zanker, should we take crypto donations?’” Zanker recalled Trump asking. “I said yes. He became the crypto president.”
Bloomberg’s take is that ‘conventional wisdom has it that this gambit is simply a classic Trumpian transactional relationship. He needs votes and money in a presidential horse race that now looks like it’ll be a photo finish, and he’s exploiting an opening created when President Joe Biden’s administration alienated the crypto crowd by pursuing a crackdown on the industry. If so, it’s working. Crypto is an ecosystem whose public face is dominated by online warriors with a lot of money to throw around, fertile ground for Trump to reap tens of millions of dollars in campaign funds — and a burgeoning army of vocal fans. His newfound role as cheerleader for the industry helped land him support from the likes of Dogecoin aficionado Elon Musk and billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss as well as venture-capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz’.
You can read the rest in the full Bloomberg article ...
Trump Bitcoin 2024: How NFTs Made Him a Crypto Cheerleader - Bloomberg
... but, to be clear, this could be a seminal moment for all things crypto.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
