Illustration by Mitchell Preffer, Decrypt
Crypto Twitter is still in a frenzy after former President Donald Trump took to the stage at Bitcoin Nashville on Saturday to read out his campaign pledges aimed at garnering support from bitcoin fans and crypto investors. Trump’s remarks, which began an hour late and were often incoherent, told the crowd that he was “laying out my plan for America to become the cryptocurrency capital of the world.”
The campaign promise that undoubtedly drew the most fierce reaction was his vow to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Trump expressed surprise at Gensler’s unpopularity and repeated the line that had drawn applause:
Satisfying people’s desire for clearer crypto policy, Senator Cynthia Lummis has proposed establishing a strategic US Bitcoin reserve, declaring it a key way to address the massive national debt.
The Bitcoin Conference marked a spectacular end to a week that began with major cryptocurrency news. The Spot ETH ETF made its Wall Street debut on Tuesday. The new fund got off to a modest but solid start despite heavy outflows. Analysts like Bloomberg’s James Seifert hailed the debut as a “very strong first day.”
However, as the week progressed, some crypto users were disappointed by the drop in ETH’s price without any ETF-driven gains.
Still, some believe ETH’s lackluster performance is a sign of promise rather than a curse. Bitcoin similarly tumbled after the Spot BTC ETF was listed in January but has since risen to new all-time highs.
Regardless of hourly price fluctuations, this week’s events have been one of the most striking demonstrations of Ethereum’s legitimacy.
Meanwhile, in the bitcoin world, excitement over Donald Trump’s appearance in Nashville was further fuelled after conference organizers suggested Democratic front-runner Kamala Harris might attend the event.
While Harris’ campaign wouldn’t confirm whether the vice president had ever considered attending the meeting, crypto-tweets immediately erupted in excited speculation and daydreaming, imagining a near future in which cryptocurrency is embraced across the political demographic as a cross-party issue.
Enthusiasm that Harris might change tune on cryptocurrencies was further fuelled by reports that her campaign had reached out to billionaire bitcoin advocate Mark Cuban to ask “several questions” about the industry.
But Harris has never spoken publicly about cryptocurrencies, and unfortunately, hopes that her first comments on the subject might come on stage at a meeting of Bitcoin enthusiasts led by President Trump appear to have been wishful thinking.