Bitcoin veteran Erik Voorhees is scratching his head over a trend he didn’t see coming. In a post on X early Sunday, he said, “I would not have predicted a bunch of Bitcoiners becoming protectionists because a politician told them it would help the economy.”
Voorhees’ comment was sparked by a growing number of Bitcoin supporters seemingly embracing tariffs and protectionist policies—something that clashes with the libertarian roots of Bitcoin.
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Ari Paul, founder of BlockTower Capital, chimed in to say it fits a broader pattern and that it’s “like watching half the libertarian party outright embrace fascism in a span of a few days.” He says that a “large percentage of libertarians” is embracing a “novel legal argument they’d never heard before, en masse, in a span of one week, to promote an infinitely powerful chief executive.”
Others were more blunt. “Bitcoiners 10 years ago: Destroy the state. Bitcoiners today: Trump said something, I j*zzed my pants.”
Some argued these people aren’t really Bitcoiners at all: “The libertarian dream died for us in 2017. It’s mostly just bubble chasing hypebeasts left trying to make a quick buck.”
One commenter added, “It was obvious when their main goal politically was to get the government to buy more bitcoin instead of protecting developers from being jailed or self custody.”
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The broader takeaway from the thread is that Bitcoin’s ideological base might be cracking under the weight of political influence and market speculation. One user sarcastically noted how “don’t trust, verify” has turned into “trust the tariff guy, he’s got a plan.”
