Meanwhile, Crypto Twitter continued to argue over whether the former president’s embrace of crypto was meaningful, or merely pandering. Gemini co-founders and Trump supporters Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss hailed the appearance, with the latter tweeting that “real engagement starts with showing up.”
Others who saw both Trump and the independent candidate for U.S. president, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, at the conference said there was no comparison: Kennedy was “the real pro-Bitcoin candidate,” in the words of Swan Bitcoin lead analyst Sam Callahan.
Agreed 100%. I had time to sit with RFK last week. Trump definitely has his talking points and is theoretically pro-bitcoin & pro-crypto but it remains to be seen how much he actually understands beyond a surface level.
Timing was certainly everything when on Monday, the U.S. government shifted $2 billion in Bitcoin seized from dark web marketplace Silk Road. To some Bitcoin fans, it seemed to be a direct rebuke of Trump’s view that the government should “never sell” its BTC.
Tone deaf anyone??? Moving Silk Road BTC two days after Trumps pledge to not move them is just dumb!!!!
But while there was some of the usual panic seen anytime huge amounts of Bitcoin start moving, others took to Crypto Twitter to essentially tell people to calm down. “You guys freak out any time large coins move,” scoffed Adam Cochran, partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, who said the BTC transfer was not a surprise.
For all the debate over U.S. policy on crypto, it was Russia that next nabbed the spotlight, authorizing the use of Bitcoin for international settlements in an apparent move to dodge sanctions. The law is expected to take effect in September, though it would not legalize crypto use within the country.
Russia’s crypto move: bypassing sanctions with Bitcoin for international trade. A digital revolution or a geopolitical gambit? The future of global finance just took a quantum leap into the unknown. https://t.co/yrBjJeDCzs
But attention returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, when Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) officially introduced a bill to create a strategic U.S. Bitcoin reserve, as she promised in Nashville.
The wait is over. This is our Louisiana Purchase moment.
This week brought quarterly earnings reports from several crypto companies, including dominant exchange Coinbase, Bitcoin mining firm Marathon Digital, top stablecoin issuer Tether, and Jack Dorsey’s Block.
On Thursday, MicroStrategy—the top institutional holder of Bitcoin—reported a $102 million quarterly loss. But co-founder Michael Saylor focused on the company’s Bitcoin strategy, as its holdings grew to be worth more than $13 billion.
Finally, if anyone was concerned that Trump’s promises on the Bitcoin conference stage would evaporate once he returned to the campaign trail, he gave another gift to Bitcoiners on Friday when he spoke effusively about crypto in a Fox News interview. In fact, taking a clue from Sen. Lummis, he said that Bitcoin could be a way for the U.S. to pay off its $35 trillion debt.
Intriguingly, the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris—with whom he is expected to face off in November—also called attention to his pro-Bitcoin remarks, but posted them without comment. Trump’s Bitcoin boosterism, it seems, can also be framed as a liability to certain audiences.
