When Donald Trump first ran for president in 2016, Silicon Valley seemed to widely oppose his candidacy. Fast-forward to 2024, and elites in the region are publicly backing him in droves — but why? According to Mark Cuban, it’s all about cryptocurrency.
“It’s a bitcoin play,” the Dallas Mavericks minority owner and “Shark Tank” star wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday. He added that a Trump administration likely “makes it easier to operate a crypto business because of the inevitable, and required, changes” at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although he was once a critic, Trump has emerged as a supporter of Bitcoin in recent months, casting himself as the pro-crypto candidate. The former president accepts donations in some cryptocurrencies, sells his own NFTs (or non-fungible tokens), and plans to speak at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville later this month.
Public support for Trump in the tech world has appeared to explode in recent months and the former president’s handpicked running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, has some experience as a venture capitalist with ties to Palantir’s Peter Thiel. Several prominent tech leaders, many of whom have ties to crypto, have endorsed or financially supported Trump recently through aligned political action committees. That includes Elon Musk, the Winklevoss twins, and the owners of Andreessen Horowitz — Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
Crucially, Republicans have long courted Silicon Valley leaders with promises of lower corporate taxes. And while tech workers seem to skew liberal, their employers have a pattern of funding candidates of both major U.S. political parties.
Cuban says, although it’s “nice” that Trump is a much bigger fan of crypto than Biden, his interest in the industry “doesn’t really impact the price of crypto.”
“What will drive the price of [Bitcoin] is lower tax rates and tariffs, which if history is any guide (and it’s not always ), will be inflationary,” Cuban wrote.
“Combine that with global uncertainty as to the geopolitical role of the USA, and the impact on the US Dollar as a reserve currency, and you can’t align the stars any better for a BTC price acceleration,” he added.
On the campaign trail, Trump has promised to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords, raised concerns over U.S. aid to Ukraine, and floated higher taxes on imports from all countries, NPR reports. He has also promised to lower corporate tax rates as low as 15% and maintain provisions of his 2017 tax cuts. In a recent interview, Trump said Taiwan “should pay us for defense” from China, calling the U.S. “no different than an insurance company.”
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Cuban says that if the U.S. dollar declines amid geopolitical uncertainty, Bitcoin could become a “safe haven,” meaning that other countries will look to the U.S. to protect their savings.
“And if things really go further than we can imagine today (and I’m not saying they will. Just that this has a possibility somewhere above zero), then BTC becomes exactly what the Maxis envision,” Cuban wrote, referencing the staunchest Bitcoin supporters. “A global currency.”
