On July 9, 2024, former President Trump arrived at the Trump National Doral Golf Club in Doral, Florida for a campaign rally.
Joe Raeder | Getty Images News | Getty Images
As Donald Trump celebrated his impending victory at Mar-a-Lago on election night, he was joined by a high-profile group of supporters. They include Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick.
These three have one thing in common: cryptocurrency.
Until recently, Trump had rarely talked about the industry, but he counted on providing large sums of cash to his campaign and related political action committees. To obtain this money, he would need to make a significant commitment to the crypto industry.
Digital asset markets soared on election night, with Bitcoin hitting a record of over $75,000 as his victory began to look possible. Cryptocurrency-linked stocks, such as Coin library and micro strategy It was also higher in after-hours trading Tuesday.
With a Republican-controlled Senate on the horizon, Trump faces few obstacles in establishing a more crypto-friendly platform. Here are some of the things he promised to do:
Strategic National Cryptocurrency Reserve
“For too long, our government has violated a cardinal rule that every Bitcoin enthusiast knows well: Never sell your Bitcoins,” Trump said during his keynote address.
Trump has pledged to maintain U.S. Bitcoin holdings accumulated as a result of seizing assets from financial criminals.
“If I are elected, it will be the policy of my U.S. government to retain 100% of all Bitcoin currently held by the U.S. government or acquired in the future,” he said.
Currently, the U.S. Marshals Service regularly auctions Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies held in the treasury, such as Ethereum and Litecoin. These sales sometimes trigger declines in cryptocurrency prices, such as earlier this year when Germany began liquidating hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin it had seized.
‘I’d fire Gary Gensler on day one’
Trump has pledged in months of public speeches to overthrow the U.S. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler.
“Day one, I’m going to fire Gary Gensler,” Trump said, referring to Joe Biden’s appointment as SEC chairman who has taken an aggressive approach to cryptocurrency regulation.
The president does not have the authority to fire the SEC chairman. Even if Trump appoints a new chairman, Gensler will remain as commissioner of the independent agency.
Gensler filed more than 100 lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies during his tenure as committee chairman. In multiple interviews, the SEC chairman has said he believes much of the industry already falls under his jurisdiction and that his lawsuit is simply to get the industry to comply.
Cryptocurrency companies argue that the latest legal battle does not provide the regulatory clarity the industry has been seeking and instead reflects an overreach by the commission.
Trump also vowed to establish a “Presidential Advisory Council on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.”
“The rules will be made by people who love your industry, not people who hate your industry,” he said.
Trump has made clear his misgivings about Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is widely viewed by the crypto community as an existential threat.
All Bitcoin will be mined in the United States
The intimate gathering brought together some of the largest coalitions of private and public miners in the U.S. industry, including representatives from Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital Holdings, Terawulf, CleanSpark and Core Scientific.
Less than four hours after Trump’s roundtable ended, the former president took to social media to extoll the virtues of Bitcoin mining operations.
“Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin will only help China, Russia and the radical communist left. We want all remaining Bitcoin to be made in the USA!!! This will help us become energy dominant!!!” Trump releases Shortly after the conference, he spoke at the Truth Society.
Since then, Trump has reiterated this view many times.
“If cryptocurrency is going to define the future, I want it mined, minted and manufactured in the United States,” Trump declared in Nashville.
“We’re going to generate so much power that you’re going to say, ‘Please, President, we don’t need any more power. We can’t stand it!'” he added.
Fed cuts interest rates
In August, Trump said he would lower interest rates if elected.
The Federal Reserve is responsible for guiding the country’s monetary policy and setting benchmark interest rates. By design, it also operates independently of the White House.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell decided to cut interest rates by half a percentage point in September, the first easing in four years.
Historically, interest rate cuts and easing of monetary policy have coincided with surges in cryptocurrency prices, as they make it cheaper to borrow money.
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