How Did Bitcoin Become a Hot Button Campaign Issue?
Engagement by the “crypto voter” demographic helped 85% of crypto-friendly congressional candidates win their races.
During the 2024 election cycle, President-elect Donald Trump rallied and mobilized an industry that previously had almost no outward influence in the American policy landscape. Despite calling bitcoin a "scam" in 2021, a few well-timed comments signaling strong support for bitcoin as a part of the U.S. economy threw a powerful machine into gear; a machine that worked with the fervor and passion of cryptocurrency innovators and tech bros to get Donald Trump back into the White House.
Suddenly, a voter bloc that has suffered skepticism, oppression, and outright targeting by legislators and financial regulators in high places saw an opportunity to push back against the likely incoming damage of Kamala Harris’ proposed tax on unrealized capital gains from crypto, Sen. Elizabeth Warren's Operation ChokePoint 2.0, and SEC chair Gary Gensler, under whom the SEC aggressively pursued legal charges against crypto firms and traditional investment firms attempting to introduce clients to investment opportunities in cryptocurrency.
Since Trump won his bid for the White House, bitcoin has roared to a U.S. dollar valuation of more than $100,000, Gary Gensler has announced he will be leaving his position on January 20, and a flurry of social media and news coverage regarding the debanking of crypto and crypto-friendly companies has dominated.
Perhaps most telling has been President-elect Trump's promise to “hold” onto all bitcoin the U.S. government has in its possession and gaining momentum for creating a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve—a policy position that has traditional finance commentators balking and cryptocurrency backers enthusiastically expressing their support.
Who in Crypto Went All-In on Trump and How Much Did They Help?
In May 2024, Trump signaled an about-face on his bitcoin position. Shortly after, J.D. Vance’s bitcoin holdings were publicized, and the Trump/Vance campaign began accepting crypto donations:
As Biden piles regulations and red tape on all of us, President Trump stands ready to embrace new technologies that will Make America Great Again.
That single sentence on the donation page summed up popular crypto innovators’ concerns. Because of that move, Trump’s appeal increased exponentially among the wider cryptocurrency community.
The campaign made its first huge splash in the crypto community when he made an appearance at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville as its keynote speaker. In that speech, Trump appealed to “bitcoiners” by promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” and to make sure that regulations were created by people who loved, and not those who hated, the crypto industry. Along with Trump, the Bitcoin 2024 campaign hosted others who now appear alongside President-elect Trump and will join his administration, including Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
These developments were not as spontaneous as they seem. Long before Trump stood in front of thousands of crypto enthusiasts and promised to make America great again—with crypto—the Fairshake PAC had its sights on congressional elections across the country. Ostensibly non-partisan, Fairshake’s stated goal was to support House and Senate leaders who were pro-innovation and pro-crypto as far back as December 2023.
Image credit: OpenSecrets.orgStand With Crypto, started by Coinbase, launched an organized digital outreach program to garner monetary support and encouraged crypto voters to reach out to legislators directly. Trump 47 PAC raised an additional $7.5 million in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC) donations. The result has been interactive efforts that connected voters to races locally and nationally, but also reached well beyond just bitcoin advocates.
Image credit: Stand With Crypto
What to Expect from a Second Trump Administration
Before even taking office for his second term, Trump’s commitment to rolling back the size and scope of government and his cabinet picks have created massive waves in the crypto universe and economy at large. The meteoric rise in bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrency prices have held since the election, while the stock markets have seen record highs.
Trump’s appointment of former PayPal executive David Sacks as AI and Crypto “czar,” and his nomination of crypto-friendly Paul Atkins to replace Gary Ginsler at the head of the SEC, were both met with praise by crypto leaders and leading tech innovators. It’s widely expected that the SEC’s ongoing legal battles against crypto firms will ease dramatically and the agency will take a much more favorable stance toward institutional crypto investments offered by established, traditional financial firms.
As Trump’s promise to hold bitcoin in a federal strategic bitcoin reserve awaits realization, several states have already moved toward the same goal. As many as ten states are exploring or proposing bitcoin reserves. Texas Republican state lawmaker Giovanni Capriglione has long supported the idea and announced his bill to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve during a live X Spaces event on December 12. 
While the U.S. seems to be rushing to embrace bitcoin, it has been done in practice in other countries, such as El Savador, and Russia is reportedly exploring the idea. Bitcoin is also being added to the treasuries of both public and private companies. Microstrategy first added bitcoin to its treasury in 2020 and now famously holds more than 423,000 bitcoin, worth around $45 billion. Most recently, Amazon shareholders appear to be bullish on the company adding bitcoin to its treasury, voting to explore the benefits.
According to a September report, as many as 40% of Americans own some cryptocurrency and the expected availability in ETFs mean some holdouts will be more likely to invest in bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies. While no one can predict the price of bitcoin, or other cryptocurrency, it is undeniable that the incoming Trump administration is bullish on bitcoin. And crypto innovators and investors are ready to ride that bull over and through regulatory barriers, all the way to the moon.
