Trump now calls himself the „Crypto President“

Donald Trump (2016). Bild von Gage Skidmore via Flickr.com. Lizenz: CC BY-SA 2.0

In the Gerontocratic Race for the Most Powerful Office in the World, Crypto Is Becoming Increasingly Important. Donald Trump Understands How to Use This to His Advantage – and According to a Prediction Market, He Clearly Has the Better Chances.

So he did it: Former and potentially future US President Donald Trump has called himself a „Crypto President“ named himself.

You need an almost superhuman amount of imagination, but please, try and picture it: Olaf Scholz—or to make it a little less absurd, at least a little—Friedrich Merz calling himself a „Crypto Chancellor.“ Or Ursula von der Layen a Crypto Commissioner.

Germany and the USA are separated not just by an Atlantic. In this country, crypto plays no role in federal or state elections, and even in the European elections, it wasn’t worth a single word from any candidate. In the USA, however, crypto has entered the campaign agenda for the presidential election on November 5, 2024, with brute force.

One could somewhat exaggerate and say that control over the most powerful army in the world might be decided by the stance on Bitcoin and crypto.

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Image by verygreen via flickr.com. License: CC BY-2.0

It’s obvious that we as Bitcoinblog find this fascinating; however, it’s no reason to glorify the USA or Donald Trump. The circumstances under which Trump called himself a „Crypto President“ are questionable in a way that’s hardly imaginable in the EU: Trump gathered twelve million dollars in campaign funds from tech venture capitalists, for which he attended an event at David Sacks‘ house in San Francisco’s chic Pacific Heights neighborhood, with a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

David Sacks, former COO of PayPal and host of the „All In“ podcast, is, according to his Twitter account, more or less THE voice of the Kremlin in the USA. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, he has been spreading Russian narratives almost uninterruptedly and without a critical note; he vehemently rails against any aid for Ukraine to defend itself against the invasion.

At this rendezvous with tech billionaires, Trump reportedly said he was „very supportive“ of crypto. Another attendee, Jacob Helberg, advisor and analyst at Palantir—a thoroughly controversial software company—reported that Trump promised he would „end Biden’s crusade against crypto within an hour of starting his second term.“

Indeed, one could expect a more crypto-friendly policy from Trump and the Republicans, while Joe Biden’s SEC chairman Gary Gensler is regarded in the crypto scene as something of an incarnate demon, who would, if allowed, stamp nine out of ten coins into the ground.

To be fair, it must be admitted that under Gary Gensler and Joe Biden, Bitcoin ETFs were approved, the USA maintained its position as the most important location for crypto worldwide, and expanded its dominance in mining. If the Democratic government hasn’t achieved this, it at least hasn’t prevented it.

Moreover, Trump had more than enough opportunities during his last term, which wasn’t all that long ago, to act in a crypto-friendly manner or at least say something nice. The fact that he missed this chance and saved all his love for crypto for the campaign shows that it might just be about the campaign for him.

Nonetheless, a relatively large part of the crypto industry seems to stand behind Trump more than Biden. This starts with Trump’s campaign accepting crypto donations, while Biden’s team doesn’t even want to comment on it. It continues with the lobbying group „Stand with Crypto„, co-founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, which doesn’t explicitly support Trump but vehemently speaks out against Biden’s policies—addressing swing states specifically.

Brian Armstrong may genuinely mean it when he says the group is neutral and beats the drum for cryptocurrencies in both political camps. But its actions are likely to clearly benefit Trump, if only because he is judged by his promises, while Biden is judged by his policies.

This sentiment is reflected on prediction markets like Polymarket. There, 165 million dollars have now been bet on the outcome of the election on November 5. Donald Trump is given a 56 percent chance, while Joe Biden is only given 34. The remaining 10 percent almost entirely falls on other Democratic candidates, such as Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, or Gavin Newsom. This likely reflects the morbid expectation that Joe Biden might not see the next term either in the White House or the Senate, but from a senior residence or a wooden apartment.

Future historians will probably look back on our time with a certain irritation. A President Biden, who will be 82 years old on Election Day, is trying to defend his office against the 78-year-old Donald Trump, while in the EU, the almost youthful 65-year-old Ursula von der Leyen is pursuing another term as President of the Commission, and in Germany next year, a 67-year-old Olaf Scholz will most likely lose to a 70-year-old Friedrich Merz.

At the same time, a 72-year-old Vladimir Putin is raining war on Ukraine from Russia, with the support of 70-year-old Xi Jinping, while in Israel, a 74-year-old Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to stop terror from the Gaza Strip, but likely only inciting more terror.

Future historians will probably describe our political reality as a gerontocracy: a time when men in an age where one usually talks about nursing homes, stairlifts, and relinquishing driver’s licenses, lead the most powerful nations in the world, often not even wise, mild, and prudent, but foaming with rage and bellicosity.