Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, currently eyeing another term in the White House, has embraced cryptocurrencies as his trump card.
The crypto craze seems to be running in the family, with the Trump brothers making a name for themselves as well.
Trump initially didn’t fancy cryptocurrencies, which was evident by his past remarks calling Bitcoin a tool for criminals.
However, his stance softened ever since he stepped foot in the NFT space, back in 2022, and for obvious reasons.
From NFTs to crypto donations
His first NFT collection, comprising 45,000 NFTs, sold out for $4.6 million. At the time, NFT INT LLC, the firm that owned the tokens, claimed the blockchain-based avatars of Donald Trump were not connected to his 2024 presidential campaign.
That trend seems to have continued, as the billionaire, while no longer shy about disclosing his newfound love for cryptocurrencies, specifically Bitcoin, launched limited edition Bitcoin-themed sneakers, commemorating his appearance at the world’s largest Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.
Just like the last time, the platform selling the shoes denied any connections to Trump’s presidential campaign. But the Trump campaign was no stranger to cryptocurrencies and was open to accepting political donations in crypto.
The campaign quickly raised over $4 million in various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, and the dollar-pegged USDC stablecoin, as his pro-crypto stance was winning the hearts of voters in the crypto sector who had been calling for regulatory clarity over the sector for years, something that Trump promises once in power.
Make crypto great again
Trump has publicly called out the Biden administration’s hostility towards the digital assets space and has vowed to “embrace it” in his rallies. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference, he said he would fire SEC chief Gary Gensler, whose term as securities head saw numerous crackdowns over the crypto sector.
He has further reiterated his crypto-favored attitude by picking cryptocurrency proponent JD Vance as his running mate. Vance has also thrashed the SEC for its ‘no crypto’ stance.
But his trump card came in the form of plans to establish a Bitcoin reserve, that has already been presented to the senate by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis.
Trump wants the US government to stick its massive BTC reserves, which reportedly housed over $11 billion in cryptocurrencies as of August 6. Historically, these funds – seized during various crackdowns – have been sold via auctions, but the presidential hopeful has advocated for a HODL strategy instead.
The presidential candidate is hopeful that Bitcoin will surpass gold and silver in market capitalization.
Whether Trump’s support is genuine, or a political tactic has been a matter of debate, but the effects of his reversal on crypto have been profound both for him, and the broader cryptocurrency sector.
Following President Joe Biden’s exit, democratic runner Kamala Harris has taken up a similar approach by taking steps to engage with the cryptocurrency sector to garner support from the community that was largely against her predecessor.
It runs in the family
Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have also stepped foot in the sector expressing their support.
Trump Jr. junior has announced plans to launch a cryptocurrency-powered platform that would take on the “banking world” and help promote the notion of decentralization. This would be the only official Trump project.
This came as a surprise to many who were expecting the launch of a possible meme coin, which has become a new trend in the crypto sector.
Eric Trump also claims to have “fallen in love” with cryptocurrencies and the decentralized space, and has teased a similar announcement.
However, both the brothers have urged against associating any of the numerous Trump-themed meme coins to themselves and their father.
Trump’s youngest son Barron Trump has also made headlines in the crypto space but not in a good way.
He has been associated with the TrumpCoin (DJT) meme token that recently crashed over 90% after a wallet that reportedly minted the tokens, dumped around 2 billion of them.
On a more positive note, the Trumps have played a major role in making cryptocurrencies a major talking point in 2024. It is yet to be seen how this plays out for this emerging sector.
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