Trump Proposes Strategic National Cryptocurrency Reserve at Bitcoin Conference

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NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump said if he returns to the White House, he would ensure the federal government never sells off its bitcoin holdings. But he stopped short of proposing an official federal reserve fund for the digital currency.

“For too long, our government has violated the basic rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: Never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said in his keynote speech at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, the largest bitcoin conference of the year.

The former president’s remarks have come as the race for votes and campaign cash by America’s top fintech companies takes center stage in the 2024 presidential election.

“This afternoon, I’m going to lay out my plan to make sure that the United States is the cryptocurrency capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world and we’re going to make it happen,” Trump said.

But Trump’s pledge to simply maintain the current amount of bitcoin held by the U.S. government was a less radical appeal to the crypto community than other proposals at the conference.

Third party candidate Robert F. Kennedy, sonFor example, in a speech at the Bitcoin Conference on Friday, he promised to release a reserve of 4 million bitcoins, starting with the bitcoins the U.S. government has accumulated from criminal seizures. Kennedy said he would ask the government to buy 550 bitcoins per day until the reserve reaches 4 million.

Immediately following Trump’s speech, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy., read her own legislative proposal to build up an official U.S. federal reserve fund worth 1 million bitcoins over five years.

“This money will be held for a minimum of 20 years and can be used for one purpose only: Reducing our debt,” Lummis said.

Bitcoin prices briefly dipped during Trump’s speech, but recovered and were up slightly on the day, as of 5:15 p.m. ET.

Throughout his speech, the former president attempted to contrast the Republican Party’s growing support for cryptocurrency with the Biden administration’s signature tough regulatory approach.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s crackdown on cryptocurrency and bitcoin is wrong and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said. “I’m telling you, if they win, you’re all gone. They’re going to be cruel. They’re going to be ruthless. They’re going to do things you wouldn’t believe.”

Trump continued to make a series of crypto-friendly promises to a crowd of cheering bitcoin supporters, vowing to dismantle what he called the “anti-crypto crusade” of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“On day one, I’m going to fire Gary Gensler,” Trump said, referring to the Biden-appointed chairman. Securities and Exchange Commission who has taken a proactive approach to cryptocurrency regulation.

The president does not have the power to fire appointed commissioners. Even if Trump appoints a new SEC chairman, Gensler would remain a commissioner of the independent agency.

The former president also pledged to create a “presidential advisory council on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.”

“The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not people who hate your industry,” Trump said.

The Republican presidential candidate also held an accompanying fundraiser in Nashville, with ticket prices up to $844,600. In June, CEO of BTC Inc. David BaileyThe conference organizers pledged to raise $100 million and attract more than 5,000,000 voters to the polls for Trump’s re-election effort, as the bitcoin sector increasingly moves in Trump’s favor.

Trump taking the stage to address the bitcoin community directly is the latest move in a months-long campaign to woo the cryptocurrency community, including accept donations in virtual tokensPresident Joe Biden Pledges to End ‘War on Crypto’ and Supports It All future bitcoin will be done in the US. This is also a complete change for the Republican presidential candidate.

Trump was very publicly rejected. bitcoin when he was in the White House. July 2019He said he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He said tokens were not money, that their value was “based on nothing,” and warned that unregulated crypto assets could help facilitate drug trafficking, among “other illegal activities.”

“Bitcoin seems like a scam,” he told Fox in a phone interview in 2021. “I don’t like it because it’s another currency that competes with the dollar.”

“I want the dollar to be the world currency, that’s what I’ve always said,” Trump continued in his conversation with Fox.

But five years, a failed presidential election and millions of dollars from the cryptocurrency lobby later, the Republican presidential candidate has praised the digital currency at biggest bitcoin conference of the year in Nashville, which opens Thursday.

“Bitcoin represents freedom, sovereignty, and independence from government coercion and control,” Trump said in his keynote speech.

Trump’s shift in stance on bitcoin comes as Republicans pledge to clear the Biden-Harris administration of red tape, seeking to make cryptocurrency regulation a ballot issue in November, especially as inflation consistently ranks as a top priority for voters in polls.

As crypto lobbyists and advocates become more present in Washington, the question is whether Democrats will dig in to the hard-line regulatory approach of years past or loosen their stance.

“Every presidential candidate needs to understand that digital assets, the pro-innovation constituency, is here to stay,” Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told CNBC in an interview, adding that cryptocurrency regulation should not become a “partisan political football.”

“I want to keep this a bipartisan issue. I don’t want Donald Trump to politicize this issue,” Rep. Nickel said.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Ca., echoed Rep. Nickel’s sentiments, arguing that cryptocurrencies should not be a partisan topic of discussion but will need to be regulated like any other technology.

“I really don’t see why it’s partisan. Being against bitcoin is like being against cellphones. It’s like being against AI. It’s like being against laptops,” Khanna told CNBC. “It’s a technology. Let’s have prudent regulation of technology, but it’s a technology that’s gone from about $10,000 to $80,000.”

Representatives Khanna and Nickel were two of the few Democrats attending the Bitcoin Conference.

Bitcoin 2024 Conference Organizers said they briefly discussed having Vice President Kamala Harris appear at the conference, though she ultimately declined. But billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban posted on X that Harris’ campaign had reached out about cryptocurrency, so it seems the vice president is looking into the space and potentially figuring out where her policies might go if she were elected president.

“I think we’ll hear from Vice President Harris very soon about this. And I’m very optimistic that we’ll get a reset. And I think that’s going to be significant,” Rep. Nickel said. “This issue is not going away. And we have to make sure that we continue to address this in a bipartisan way.”

Harris’ team has begun reaching out to people close to crypto companies to arrange meetings, Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Trump’s recent thaw in his stance on the digital asset space has coincided with a sudden influx of interest and money from the country’s top tech talent.

He raised more than $4 million in various cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, the USDC stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, and various memecoins, with contributors coming from 12 states, including several battleground states.

Cryptocurrency billionaire twins and venture capitalists Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss led the charge, each contributing 15.57 bitcoin, worth more than $1 million at the time of the donation, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission — though they received partial refunds because the contribution exceeded the $844,600 limit.

There are a number of other venture capitalists backing cryptocurrencies, and they have also pledged millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign.

Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz tell the staff Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) said it plans to make significant donations to political action committees supporting the Trump campaign. Sequoia Capital partners are backing Trump, as is venture capitalist David Sackswho helped the former president raise $12 million at a fundraiser he hosted at his San Francisco home. The chief legal officers of the centralized cryptocurrency exchange Cryptocurrency and blockchain giant Ripple both are there.

These tech elite members also contribute heavily to pro-crypto super PACs like Fairshake, which has raised over $200 million to elect pro-crypto candidates at every level of the ballot and in both parties.

But reports from NBC News The vice president’s team is looking to win over some undecided big tech donors, many of whom have stayed on the sidelines while President Joe Biden remains in the race. Their tune may be changing now that the vice president is the party’s de facto nominee.

The good news is that Harris has a long record in California.

She has been fundraising in the tech community for years, including working at Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft And Apple.

“The change that has taken place in the last three days has been incredible,” said Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and former California gubernatorial candidate. told NBC News. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such enthusiasm in any campaign I’ve been involved in.”

The incident comes as Trump’s vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, prepares to hold his own fundraiser in Palo Alto on Monday.

— CNBC’s Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this report.