The 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump, made a number of bold promises to the crypto community during the Bitcoin Conference 2024 through interviews, rally speeches, and social media posts. Some of his supporters, however, remained skeptical about his ability to deliver on each one as he awaits his inauguration.
Trump has been Bitcoin’s most vocal supporter throughout this year. First, he planned to integrate Bitcoin into the national financial strategy by making it the national reserve asset through the ‘strategic Bitcoin reserve.’ While it was unclear what policy he would use to enact this, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis submitted a comprehensive Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Bill to Congress in August.
Trump vows to make the U.S. the Bitcoin capital
Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump) has won the 2024 #USelection, backing the #Bitcoin price to soar above $75,000—a new all-time high!
Here are the 11 promises President Donald Trump has made regarding Bitcoin and cryptocurrency:
1/ Fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on Day 1
2/… pic.twitter.com/uksgtLPF0W— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) November 6, 2024
President-elect Trump promised to turn the U.S. into the world’s Bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital. He said that his government would retain 100% of the 208,109 BTC worth approximately $15.5B currently held by the U.S. government. The Bitcoin Act also proposed the purchase of 200K BTC every year to accumulate a stockpile of 1M Bitcoin in the next 5 years.
Meeting privately with major Bitcoin miners in June, Trump declared that he wanted to see all the Bitcoin mined in the United States. He repeated this action plan several other times, including at the Bitcoin Conference 2024, where he said he would ensure that the U.S. took a dominant role in Bitcoin mining. He added that he would commit himself to deregulating the energy sector to increase energy independence.
“If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and made in the USA…We will be creating so much electricity that you’ll be saying, ‘Please, please, President, we don’t want any more electricity. We can’t stand it!”
The incoming president disclosed that he would have a Bitcoin and crypto advisory board and eliminate the capital gains tax on Bitcoin. Another cornerstone of his campaign was his staunch opposition to the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency). Trump viewed the CBDC as a dangerous threat to freedom since it gave too much power to the government. He said that he supported the right to ‘self-custody.’
The 47th promised to regulate and deregulate the crypto space for a more streamlined industry
Trump complained that crypto regulations in the U.S. were difficult to understand, ambiguous, and bizarre. He declared that he would end the government’s overreach and regulation wars on crypto immediately after taking the oath of office. He vowed to end the Biden administration’s anti-crypto crusade completely.
The incoming president also said that crypto regulations would henceforth be written by people who loved the industry vowing to fire the current U.S. SEC chair, Gary Gensler, on day 1 in office. Trump affirmed that the people selected to write crypto regulations would be individuals who wanted to make it simple and clear, straightforward and fair, and basically, people who wanted the industry to thrive.
Creating a crypto-centric advisory council comprising major domestic stakeholders would ensure that policy and regulations were properly guided. Trump further promised to commute the double-life sentence of the Silk Road’s founder, Ross Ulbricht. The pardon would highlight his push to reform digital finance’s legal treatment.
