This week, Donald Trump spoke in front of the largest Bitcoin gathering in Nashville. The Republican presidential candidate, who has been for many months declared himself”the “crypto candidate,” has reportedly made $21 million during the conference; shortly after the conference, Trump began selling a small quantity of $500 high-end sneakers with the words “Trump Crypto President” on their sides.
In the meantime, the presumed Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, is reported to be attending meetings with the biggest crypto companies, Ripple, Coinbase, and Circle. While Harris hasn’t issued any official announcements regarding how her administration will deal with crypto, despite the exchange discussions and discussions with crypto enthusiast Mark Cuban, it’s evident that she’s thinking about taking a more open stance as opposed to those in the Biden administration.
The reality that there are two participants fighting for votes in the crypto space suggests that even if Bitcoin, as well as other cryptocurrencies, aren’t at their peak, The industry overall still exerts significant influence. This shows, time and again, how fast the political outlook of alternative currencies could change.
Despite all the attention paid to crypto, the world is a tiny portion (numerically) of the electorate. It is reported that the Federal Reserve says only 7 percent of Americans were together or holding crypto in the year that ended, which was down 3 percent from 2022 and a drop of five percentage points from the year 2021. The industry has fought numerous scandals and spent thousands of dollars over the last few years in order to procure credibility. There are also numerous crypto Super PACs making a splash in down-ticket races for crypto-skeptics. This is drawing Washington’s attention.
Despite some well-publicized issues, the crypto industry is a global market with a market capitalization of $2.24 trillion, which is greater than the market value of the top 10 countries around the globe. It doesn’t matter what you think about it; the crypto market has risen to a level that politicians are unable to ignore.
“The crypto crowd is willing to vote and pay for regime change in Washington,” says James Angel, a faculty member of Georgetown McDonough’s Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy.
THE POLITICS OF CRYPTO
In the global market, cryptocurrency made up approximately 0.4 percent of total energy consumed in the world in 2022, as in an International Energy Agency report that was released in January. This is about equal to the amount that the Netherlands consumed. The carbon footprints of Bitcoin miners in the period 2020-2021 were comparable to burning the equivalent of 84 million pounds of coal or running 190 natural-gas-powered electricity plants adequate to the United Nations. This places Trump as well as Harris into an awkward position, in which they’ll need to weigh the negative effects on the climate against the benefits of adopting cryptocurrency.
In January, the Biden Administration announced measures to address energy consumption. Biden Administration unveiled measures to curb the energy consumption of the crypto industry, including lauding the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which initiated a study of the consumption of electricity by mining firms. These companies will be required to provide a comprehensive review of their usage of energy. However, enough work remains to be completed by whoever will be next to take over the White House.
Cryptocurrency has also become an increasingly reliable investment choice in the last year. With the approval of the SEC for financial firms to provide Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs) that monitor Bitcoin’s price, those who had stayed clear of crypto before now have better confidence in their investment. It’s also much simpler to make investments in Bitcoin and other crypto assets since individuals can consult with the experts they’ve been relying on for a long time, in contrast to crypto startups, which are still struggling to get away from their shadow of FTX.
THE CRYPTO CANDIDATES
A large part of the reason Trump has such a large number of supporters is his promise to establish a national strategic Bitcoin reserve should he be elected. This would remove the majority of crypto from the market, which could lead to an improvement in prices. Bitcoin users who are in favor of Trump are hoping that his victory will result in them becoming significantly richer.
They’re also relying on Trump to remove SEC chief Gary Gensler, who has often been an obstacle for cryptocurrency. Trump, during the speech he delivered on Saturday, said that if he is elected to a second term, “The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.”
Industry leaders are now feeling heard despite many years of being viewed as second-class by the other markets for financial services. Now, the question is how Harris will react.
One crypto lobbying organization, The Digital Chamber, has already asked her to reflect that sense of inclusion and encourage the idea of an “open dialogue” with industry officials and include crypto-friendly language in the Democratic platform.
“Both Democrats and Republicans now realize that we need reasonable regulation that allows us to innovate with this technology while still protecting investors,” Angel adds. Angel.
Harris is adequate to him and has the chance to disengage herself from Gensler’s stance that has earned the election with no support from cryptocurrency. “She needs to push for a regulatory regime that allows the simple registration and trading of assets in crypto wrappers,” Harris says.
Angel claims Trump could have an edge, but Trump appears to have stuck to three aspects.
“Crypto appeals to people who distrust government institutions, just like MAGA people,” he adds. “The high price of crypto assets [also] means that crypto people have enough money to donate to his campaign.”
