There were no crypto conference appearances or positive social media posts about digital assets during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
With Donald Trump scheduled to be inaugurated for a second term as US President on Jan. 20, many crypto industry insiders have said they expect the administration to strike a different tone on digital assets than it did before.
The former Republican president first took office in January 2017, a few months after winning a close election against former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Unlike the 2024 election cycle, Trump did not appear to have mentioned cryptocurrency, blockchain or Bitcoin (BTC) even once during his 2016 campaign while competing to win the Republican nomination or against Clinton in the general election.
When Trump won the election in November 2016, the price of Bitcoin was roughly $700, rising to roughly $900 by his 2017 inauguration. Before he left office in January 2021, the price of the cryptocurrency had risen roughly 4,000% in four years to more than $36,000, including a sharp drop at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
