Crypto fanatics flock to Trump, hoping to ‘make bitcoin great again’

NASHVILLE - There were stacks of orange coins, a crypto-themed stock car and a plethora of miniature rockets meant to embody the hope that prices might shoot “to the moon.”

But the usual trappings accompanied a more political sight at the annual conference that bills itself as the world’s largest gathering of bitcoin enthusiasts: klaxon-red hats emblazoned with the slogan “Make bitcoin Great Again.”

Many of the nation’s leading cryptocurrency companies, executives, investors and fanatics are beginning to unite around former president Donald Trump, hoping their public embrace - and increasingly generous campaign checks - might entice and elect a presidential candidate who will spare the industry from federal regulation.

“This is the steel industry of 100 years ago,” Trump said in a direct appeal to crypto supporters here Saturday, promising he would turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world.”

Under President Biden, the U.S. government has aggressively cracked down on crypto, seeking to protect average Americans from scams and prevent the largely anonymous tokens from enabling illicit activities. But the fierce oversight has chafed crypto advocates and angered wealthy political benefactors in Silicon Valley. To ward off new federal probes, environmental protections and financial regulations, they have gravitated toward Trump - even if they don’t always like him - in the hope that he will deliver relief in Washington.

“I think what people are excited about is, if Trump comes in with a new circle, and Cabinet members, and people, that it’s going to change, and change for the better,” said Marshall Beard, the chief operating officer at Gemini, a crypto trading platform and banking service. He described himself as apolitical, but his company’s founders, billionaire investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, have donated heavily in support of Trump.

Trump has gladly accepted the entreaties: Newly awash in crypto cash, he has celebrated bitcoin and other digital tokens, marking a shift from his time in office, when Trump proclaimed he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and linked such assets to drug sales. The early uptick in fundraising support has troubled some Democrats, who have scrambled to show they are not hostile to the industry.

Trump’s conversion was on stark display Saturday, as he addressed thousands of bitcoin owners, traders and investors. In a winding speech, rife with attacks on Democrats, the former president pledged his administration would pursue crypto policies “written by people who love your industry” - even promising at times that the price of bitcoin would rise under his watch..

Even before Trump arrived, there were hints of growing support across the sprawling Music City Center. A smattering of “Make bitcoin Great Again” hats - some in bitcoin orange - dotted the rows of booths where crypto entrepreneurs hawked new tokens, investing tips and “tax avoidance strategies,” in the words of one firm, which parked near its kiosk a ruby-red motorcycle adorned with the play on Trump’s slogan. (Staff there declined to be interviewed.)

Outside, a digital sign truck periodically circled, flashing photos of Trump and his new running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), a longtime crypto advocate who has reported owning as much as $250,000 in bitcoin. The vehicle pitched passersby on “MAGA VP,” a type of “memecoin” - unaffiliated with the campaign - that aims to help the former president’s most fervent supporters earn money. It teased that customers who purchased $50 of the token would “win a special prize.”

“At this party, today, it seems like there’s a leaning toward Trump, and I think it’s an appreciation for the first major presidential candidate to come along and say this might be actually a really good idea,” said Mike Belshe, the chief executive of BitGo, which offers a crypto wallet service. He plans to host a fundraiser next week for Vance in Palo Alto, Calif., according to an invite obtained by The Washington Post.

The support for Trump underscored the rapid political awakening underway in the crypto industry. Stung by a series of major scandals - and facing the prospect of tough regulation in Washington - crypto companies, executives and investors have shelled out $121 million this election in a bid to defeat potential foes and elect new friends in Washington, according to the money-in-politics watchdog OpenSecrets.

“We’ve seen tens of millions of dollars pouring in, in an attempt to make sure anti-regulation politicians are the ones who take power,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a left-leaning watchdog group.

For many crypto titans, the catalyst for action came two years ago, after the downfall of FTX, previously the world’s third-largest crypto marketplace. Many Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), immediately demanded stringent new rules, while the Securities and Exchange Commission, led by Chairman Gary Gensler, filed a battery of lawsuits alleging the best-known crypto firms had failed to follow basic federal investor protections.

Often, the targets of SEC scrutiny - including Coinbase, a digital asset marketplace, and Ripple, which created the popular XRP token - blasted the cases as evidence of Gensler’s bias against the industry. They coupled their court battles with an expensive lobbying campaign designed to neuter the SEC and stave off other regulations, including rules meant to prevent terrorist groups from trafficking in crypto. And crypto executives and investors began pouring money into the 2024 election, launching three super PACs that have run ads targeting congressional candidates who oppose digital currencies.

This year, David Bailey - the chief executive of BTC Inc., which organized the conference in Nashville - personally approached Trump in the hope he might reverse his views on crypto. Major Silicon Valley donors, including investors David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, hosted lucrative fundraisers for the former president in June. Elon Musk, a crypto booster and owner of X, endorsed Trump after the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.; the venture capital duo Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz soon revealed their support, too.

With every check and endorsement, Trump appeared to grow more receptive. On his social media site, Truth Social, he described himself in May as “VERY POSITIVE AND OPEN MINDED TO CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANIES.” Two months later, he touted crypto as an official part of the 2024 GOP platform, which declared the party would “end Democrats’ unlawful and un-American Crypto crackdown.”

“If there’s a politician that sees the potential of the industry, and wants it to thrive, generally the voters and donations are going to go in that direction,” said Brian Morgenstern, who oversees policy for the crypto giant Riot Platforms.

Riot is a bitcoin miner: It manages the vast, energy-intensive machines running complex calculations to generate individual tokens. The industry has warred with the Biden administration, and Riot successfully sued the Energy Department after it demanded bitcoin miners turn over data about their energy usage.

Executives from Riot and other companies directly appealed in June to Trump, who told them “he understands quite clearly why people are looking for alternatives to legacy financial systems,” Morgenstern recalled in Nashville this week. Morgenstern served under Trump in the Treasury Department, back when the president had been critical of crypto.

After the meeting, Trump commemorated the gathering on Truth Social: “VOTE FOR TRUMP!” he began. “Biden’s hatred of bitcoin only helps China, Russia, and the Radical Communist Left. We want all the remaining bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!!”

Despite his earlier opposition, some crypto devotees seemed to welcome Trump’s attention.

At an unattended expo booth Friday, the image of a bloodied Trump pumping his fist after the assassination attempt had been altered so he appeared to be holding a bitcoin. Gawkers stopped to snap photos of the rotating illustration, which was superimposed atop the usual rocket logo for Moonshot, a company that manufactures key components for bitcoin mining.

“Hopefully we’re starting to see winds change in the United States, and maybe we’ll get some change with a new president,” mused Ray Kamrath, the chief commercial officer at Bakkt, a crypto trading platform, during a panel discussion later about the future of regulation.

Kamrath expressed hope that the next year might finally resolve the issue of whether some cryptocurrencies are securities, and in the process, shield more of the industry from the SEC.

“Let’s just enjoy for a moment that crypto, bitcoin, is a bona fide election year issue in the United States,” responded Bobby Zagotta, the U.S. chief executive officer of Bitstamp, a crypto marketplace, to a smattering of applause. In an interview afterward, Zagotta said he sensed the “Trump mania just walking the floor.”

A crowd of a few hundred had erupted in celebration a day earlier, when Luke Rudkowski, the founder of the group We Are Change, noted on a panel that Trump had publicly promised to release Ross Ulbricht from prison. A longtime darling of the crypto community, Ulbricht faces a life sentence for convictions related to his creation and operation of Silk Road, a dark web marketplace often used to buy and sell illicit goods.

“It’s happening with Donald Trump; he’s speaking up for it,” said Rudkowski, whose group has been faulted by the Southern Poverty Law Center for spreading conspiracy theories.

On Saturday, Trump reiterated his commitment to Ulbricht as part of a series of crypto-friendly policy announcements meant to rile industry support. He pledged to fire Gensler and put an end to his agency’s tough enforcement, drawing an applause so loud that Trump said he didn’t realize the SEC chair “was that unpopular.” The former president also proposed a national strategic reserve of bitcoin, formed largely from currency that the U.S. government has seized from criminal investigations and other sources.

Trump addressed the Nashville audience on a day when he also had been scheduled to hold a high-dollar fundraiser with crypto executives. To attend the Saturday fundraising reception, take a photo with Trump and join his policy roundtable, donors had to write checks for $844,600 to his reelection and other Republican campaign committees, according to an invitation obtained by The Post. Previously, Trump’s aides boasted about raising roughly $4 million in various cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin.

Sensing Trump’s fundraising edge, other politicians have looked to court crypto’s cash: On street corners outside the convention hall, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) stationed trucks with digital signs that pitched her as a “bitcoin champion” - and directed viewers to a donation website (in dollars or cryptocurrency). Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is running as an independent in the 2024 presidential race, made his own appeal Friday, telling a packed auditorium he would unveil a host of policies that would see the U.S. government purchase and warehouse bitcoin.

“I’m very happy to learn I’m not the only one talking about bitcoin in this year’s election,” said Kennedy, who appeared at the same conference last year. He later added: “I hope President Trump’s commitment is about more than political expediency.”

But Trump’s inroads in particular have spooked some national Democrats, who do not want to be seen as wholly opposed to crypto. A small group of party officials even huddled privately earlier this month to discuss how to better engage with the politically ascendant industry, having spent years cultivating relationships - and cashing checks - from the broader, liberal-leaning Silicon Valley tech set.

“The challenge the Democrats have is name[d] Gary Gensler,” Mark Cuban, a prominent tech investor, said in an email. “He is pushing a new technology out of the USA. That is not a strong position for a party looking to win.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who represents a slice of the Bay Area, convened the gathering with senior aides to Biden and top tech investors including Cuban and Anthony Scaramucci, who served briefly under Trump but since has defected to support Biden and now Vice President Harris. Scaramucci later said that some participants specifically called for firing Gensler and blocking the renomination of Caroline Crenshaw for another term as an SEC commissioner, arguing they have struck an unfairly defiant tone against crypto. The White House did not respond to a request for comment; spokespeople for Gensler and Crenshaw declined to comment.

“I’ll put it simply: After years in the desert, and in a regulatory drought in the Biden administration, I think they see an advocate,” Scaramucci said of Trump.

The outreach has only intensified since Harris replaced Biden as the party’s presumptive nominee, elevating a longtime California politician with deep roots in the tech sector. Some fervent crypto supporters made a last-minute pitch for Harris to appear alongside Trump in Nashville. Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

“With the changing of the top of the ticket, it’s an opportunity to reevaluate, reset,” said Brad Garlinghouse, the chief executive of Ripple.

Garlinghouse said he had not yet endorsed or donated to either candidate, but he signaled that many in his industry had supported Trump primarily out of necessity.

“I don’t think this is about choosing one party over another,” he said. “I think the Republicans, led by Donald Trump, are playing chess, and I think the Democrats are playing checkers.”