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The crypto industry is plotting its political future this week at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Once upon a time, cryptocurrency was an asset class that politicians across the political spectrum avoided touching with a ten-foot pole—but Republicans have changed their tune this election cycle, tapping into a lucrative base of pro-digital asset voters.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will be taking the stage on Saturday, illustrating just how dramatically the former president has reversed his prior stance and embraced cryptocurrency. He made a splash back in April by launching his own token collection, along with formally making crypto a part of his election platform.
Trump has raised over $4 million in bitcoin and other digital coins for this 2024 campaign, according to CNBC. And Trump isn’t the only Republican politician making an appearance at the conference—former Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is also speaking, along with Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
How many voters actually care about crypto?
While crypto has a—let’s say—enthusiastic base, this could be a situation where a loud minority is making most of the noise. According to a recent Gallup survey, Americans consistently say that the most important economic issues to them are the high cost of living, inflation, and growing wealth inequality.
But that doesn’t mean bitcoin is a non-issue. A recent Harris Poll found that about a third of voters say that digital assets are a factor they’re thinking about when voting in the presidential election.
Even if bitcoin specifically might not be the most important single issue for Trump voters, a classic pro-business tax agenda and promises of less regulation have pushed more Silicon Valley and Wall Street titans to embrace him like never before. For example, venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz founders Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreeseen endorsed Trump in a podcast last week, citing a “pro tech” agenda that included Trump’s digital asset platform.
Can Democrats convince voters they’re bitcoin-friendly?
Not all Democrats have shown outright hostility to crypto, and in fact, Democratic representative Ro Khanna is also speaking at this week’s conference in Tennessee. And Kamala Harris has a relatively blank slate when it comes to digital assets, so she could argue she’s more friendly to the asset class compared to President Biden.
And ironically, despite the crypto industry’s inclination to bash Democratic SEC Chair Gary Gensler on his pro-crypto regulation stance, he has overseen the approval and launch of spot bitcoin and spot ethereum ETFs—two truly monumental milestones for the industry.
So as always when it comes to crypto, expect the unexpected.—LB