Illustration by Mitchell Preffer, Decrypt
The fallout from an unprecedented presidential election continued to ripple across the cryptocurrency industry this week, with leaders and influencers lending their support to Donald Trump’s campaign in the wake of a recent assassination attempt, some resorting to more extreme rhetoric than others.
With the Republican National Convention dominating TV headlines this week and President Trump announcing that he will nominate Ohio Senator J.D. Vance for vice president, crypto users seem more enthusiastic than ever about the former president, who recently took a pro-crypto stance.
With a Trump victory looking more likely than ever following the events of last weekend and President Joe Biden’s ongoing legitimacy crisis within his own party, crypto users have been excited at the prospect that Trump could retake the White House, sending cryptocurrency prices soaring in the process.
A string of prominent crypto executives and influencers began vocally voicing their support for Trump on Twitter this week, following previous comments from Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, as well as significant donations from celebrities.
But perhaps the most high-profile incident on crypto Twitter this week came when Messari founder and CEO Ryan Selkis, a known Trump supporter, posted hundreds of inflammatory tweets, some of which referenced political violence and some of which promoted conspiracy theories related to the assassination attempt on Trump.
Selkis cited the Second Amendment to suggest that violence against left-leaning Americans should be met with violence. In another tweet, he responded to a US immigrant crypto user, saying the man should be deported for harboring left-leaning views.
Selkis later apologized to the user for his comments, saying he had confused the man with “another Marxist.”
Despite the crypto community’s warmth towards Trump, many saw Selkis’ post as overstepping the line. Selkis said Thursday that he attended a “tough love” meeting with Messari executives and acknowledged that things “got too heated” this week.
But by Friday, the situation seemed untenable. That morning, Mr. Selkis said he was stepping down as the company’s CEO but would remain as a senior adviser.
Still, Selkis reiterated on the same day that the sentiment behind his comments remained unchanged.
“If I were a cultural Marxist hell-bent on destroying the country, I would have weathered this storm,” Serkis wrote, quoting a political opponent with a dark side. “But I’ve spoken the truth too many times, and I exploded in rage last Saturday when I tried to kill the president.”
Editor: Ryan Ozawa.