What did Donald Trump say at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference?
The information that the entire crypto community has been eagerly following in the past 24 hours is certainly the appearance of former US President Donald Trump at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference, an annual event of the BTC community being held in Nashville (Tennessee, USA).
This is the first time a former US President has appeared at a major event of the Bitcoin community, something that Mr. Trump himself has also acknowledged.
At the beginning of his nearly 1-hour speech at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference, Mr. Trump was presented with 1 BTC by the organizers as a souvenir.
Mr. Trump wants the United States to become the "center" and "superpower" of Bitcoin in the world by cutting energy costs to retain and attract miners.
"If Bitcoin "goes to the Moon", I want the United States to be the leading country."
The former president also raised the possibility that Bitcoin will one day surpass gold, and that Bitcoin is not currently a threat to the dollar.
“In just 15 years, Bitcoin has gone from an idea that started on the Internet to the ninth most valuable asset in the world. It will soon surpass silver. […] Maybe one day it will surpass gold. No other asset has ever done that, and the public still doesn’t understand it. Imagine what will happen when they see the potential of Bitcoin?”
Mr. Trump also reminded the audience that his first term (2017 - 2021) was the time when Bitcoin exploded the most, continuously setting historical highs, and he is ready to do it again with the Bitcoin community in the next 4 years.
One of the most valuable moments of the speech was Mr. Trump mentioning the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler. Accordingly, the 2024 US presidential candidate affirmed that one of his first moves when sitting in the hot seat in the Oval Office will be to fire Gary Gensler and appoint a new chairman for the SEC, who will be more open to technological progress.
This statement by Mr. Trump immediately "exploded the stadium", receiving applause and cheers from the attendees of the Bitcoin 2024 Conference, to the point that he was surprised and delighted to the point of repeating it again to continue stirring up the crowd.
Mr. Trump probably did not know that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is one of the most hated government officials in the cryptocurrency community when he continuously attacked projects in the industry with securities accusations even though the US Congress has not yet enacted specific crypto management laws, but still maintains the name of protecting investors' rights.
Taking this opportunity, Mr. Trump announced that he would end “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” a nickname often used by the crypto community to refer to the US government’s crypto suppression policy under Biden.
Mr. Donald Trump then went on to make the announcement that the entire crypto community was waiting for, which was to affirm that he would establish a national Bitcoin reserve for the US, based on the amount of more than 213,000 BTC currently held by the US Department of Justice as evidence of criminal confiscation.
“The United States currently owns nearly 210,000 BTC, equivalent to about 1% of the total Bitcoin supply. But our government has long violated the basic principle that every Bitcoin investor knows by heart: That is, never sell Bitcoin.
If elected, my administration will have a policy to hold all the Bitcoin that the US government currently owns. This will be a key part of the national Bitcoin reserve."
Other commitments and statements on crypto by Mr. Trump include:
- Establishing a Bitcoin and Crypto Advisory Board for the President;
- Not allowing the US federal government to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC);
- Issuing a legal framework to support businesses making stablecoins;
- Freeing Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Bitcoin black market The Pirate Bay who was sentenced to life in prison by the US.
- Thank you to the crypto community for their support of the election campaign, with over $4 million in crypto donated.
- Praise the Bitcoin investment community as people with "high IQ".
Throughout the speech, Donald Trump also repeatedly called on the audience not to forget to vote for him in the November election, because the above commitments can only come true if he once again becomes the head of the United States.
In the early stages of the speech, when Mr. Trump rambled on about the political and economic situation in the US, not mentioning Bitcoin and crypto too much, BTC price dumped all the way to $66,650, before recovering to the $68,800 area when he finally mentioned the changes he would bring to the cryptocurrency market if elected.
