Donald Trump’s promises to the crypto world face an uphill fight in DC

Former President Donald Trump and a parade of Republican politicians made several promises to the crypto world during Bitcoin 2024 this past weekend.

But many of the ideas are easier said than done, even if Trump wins.

Trump promised to appoint a crypto Presidential Advisory Council, to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler, to usher in more friendly regulation, and to ban central bank digital currencies.

Trump also threw his support behind a cherished idea in the community of establishing a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”

He earned his perhaps loudest cheer of Saturday afternoon when he called for the ouster of Gensler, who led an aggressive crackdown on some of crypto’s biggest players.

The roar evidently surprised the former president, who quipped, “I didn’t know he was that unpopular.”

Most of these moves face serious challenges on the road to enactment. Others may not be issues at all.

Creating a bitcoin (BTC-USD) stockpile would likely require a new law in Congress.

Even quickly firing Gensler, who sits atop an independent agency and whose term doesn’t expire until 2026, could prove challenging. Presidents can fire SEC chairs “for cause,” but a move to do it quickly if Trump wins could face legal challenges.

As for the urgency of banning a central bank digital currency, the Fed is not “remotely close” to deploying such technology, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said during a March congressional hearing.

A parade of political speakers

But those hurdles didn’t prevent a parade of largely Republican politicians from promising attendees action on an array of fronts during the three-day Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville.

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) announced plans to introduce a bill that would have the US government establish a strategic bitcoin reserve and would set out to acquire 1 million bitcoins using existing funds from the Federal Reserve System and US Treasury Department.

The goal is to only use it to pay down the national deficit.

“What we’re gonna see is that in November, this industry is going to be on the ballot,” Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) added Friday at the conference.

Trump also raised money during his stop in Nashville with a fundraiser where attendees paid between $60,000 and $844,600 to attend, according to an online sign-up sheet.

Fairshake, the crypto industry’s largest super-PAC, has also currently raised more than any other super-Pac — $202.94 million — according to data tracked by Open Secrets.

And it has only spent $14 million, meaning its impact could be deeply felt in the months ahead. The group says it will support candidates committed to a “clearer regulatory and legal framework.”

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Another 2024 candidate, Robert Kennedy, Jr., also promised the crowd that, if elected, he would build a strategic bitcoin reserve until the US held 4 million bitcoins (worth roughly $272 billion).

“I think it’s a good thing if the price goes up,” he added in a Yahoo Finance interview, reiterating, “I put a lot of my personal wealth into it, not particularly to make money but just because it’s so well aligned with my values.”

‘Bigger than the RNC’

Some attendees at the conference said they were excited about what they viewed as validation of their industry.

“This bitcoin conference is going to be bigger than the RNC, bigger than the DNC, bigger than the NRA,” crowed Russell Okung, a former professional football player for the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers who once tried to have his NFL salary paid in bitcoin.

But Okung, as he moved between panels on Friday, was quick to add a note of wariness about all this newfound attention.

“They’re going to want to pander to this audience,” he noted. “Why? Because we are becoming the most powerful force in the world, not just the nation.”

Bitcoin rose in the days following Trump’s speech above $70,000, approaching another all-time high, but then fell on Monday.

It has risen more than 50% over the course of 2024, thanks in no small part to its embrace by Wall Street with the launch of the industry’s first exchange-traded funds at the beginning of the year.

Despite an uphill climb in Washington, crypto executives are now salivating at the possibility a US strategic bitcoin reserve could usher in a new wave of FOMO at the national level.

“Countries might feel compelled to also buy bitcoin not because they necessarily believe in its intrinsic value, but because they fear the consequences of being a late adopter and being left behind,” Vance Spencer, co-founder of VC firm Framework Ventures, said in emailed comments.

‘Most people have no idea what the hell it is’

The impact of the weekend on the 2024 race remains to be seen, with the political world still adjusting after a seismic five weeks upended the race. Another open question is how much Trump’s embrace of crypto ultimately mobilizes new voters.

The Bitcoin 2024 conference attracted a largely male demographic, as was evident during the lead-up to Trump’s speech. The wait for the men’s bathroom curved around the main stage seating compared with no such wait for the women’s bathroom.

The ascension of Vice President Kamala Harris also complicated the weekend.

Harris’s quick ascent to presumptive Democratic nominee within days of Joe Biden ending his campaign upended the 2024 race, as did an eye-popping fundraising tally of $200 million dollars in just one week.

“And she’s against crypto, by the way, and she’s against it very big,” Trump told the audience.

However, Harris hasn’t outlined a position and some in the community are tentatively optimistic she could be open to their concerns after a career spent in San Francisco politics.

Despite all the attention and the promises made by Trump or other politicians this weekend, many bitcoin advocates aren’t ready to declare victory.

“It’s undeniable at this point that you’re seeing these politicians speak at these events because of the growing popularity, but if you get outside and talk to people around this city, it’s like, ‘Wasn’t bitcoin a scam?” said Stephen Schellbach, a co-director for nonprofit Open Source Justice.

It’s one area where Trump and his audience on Saturday may be in sync.

“I don’t think you’ve ever seen anything like it, and most people have no idea what the hell it is,” Trump jokingly told the crowd.

David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance. Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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