Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- Former President Donald Trump will be delivering a keynote address at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Trump’s campaign has received over $4 million in funding from digital currencies, including bitcoin, ether, Ripple’s XRP token, and stablecoin USDC.
- Trump has positioned himself as a pro-crypto candidate and has garnered support from influential investors in the technology and crypto sectors.
Detailed news
Nashville, Tennessee— This weekend, former President Donald Trump will be in Tennessee to deliver a keynote address at a significant bitcoin conference. It appears that he will be in the presence of a supportive audience.
A campaign aide disclosed to CNBC that Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has secured over $4 million in funding from a combination of digital currencies. According to a Federal Election Commission filing, contributors have contributed bitcoin, ether, Ripple’s XRP token, the U.S. dollar pegged stablecoin USDC, and a variety of memecoins.
The “Trump 47” joint fundraising committee’s totals from April 1 to June 30 are detailed in the 1,000-plus page report. The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee, and other parties received payments from the committee, which raised over $118 million during that time, according to the filing.
The filing indicates that the committee received bitcoin contributions from at least 19 donors, totaling over $2.15 million. Twelve states, including several battlegrounds, are represented by contributors. Homemaker, U.S. military officer, missionary, painter, sales representative for a pizza company, and security technician for the State Department comprise their occupations.
The initiative was spearheaded by the crypto billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who each contributed 15.57 bitcoin, which was equivalent to just over $1 million at the time of donations. The filing indicates that the money was partially refunded because their contributions exceeded the $844,600 limit. Mike Belshe, the CEO of BitGo, a digital asset security company, contributed $50,000 in bitcoin.
In recent months, Trump has repositioned himself as the pro-crypto candidate for president, a departure from his previous posture during his tenure in the White House. Trump initiated his most recent non-fungible token accumulation on the Solana blockchain in April and has since been expressing a growing enthusiasm for cryptocurrency in his public statements. He has garnered the backing of numerous influential investors in the technology and crypto sectors, such as venture entrepreneurs Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, during his journey.
The keynote address at The Bitcoin Conference, which is being held at the Music City Center in Nashville on Saturday, will be delivered by Trump. In addition, he will organize a campaign fundraiser in the city on the same day, with tickets priced at as much as $844,600 perperson.
Top-tier tickets are priced at the utmost donation amount that individuals are permitted to donate to the Trump 47 Committee and include a seat at a roundtable with Trump. According to the invitation, the subsequent tier comprises a photograph with the former president for $60,000 per individual or $100,000 per couple.
According to Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign aide, the majority of the over $4 million in crypto raised was received in bitcoin.
“Kamala Harris and the Democrats are attacking cryptocurrency innovators and other technology professionals,” Hughes stated, alluding to the de facto Democratic nominee. “President Trump is prepared to foster American leadership in this and other emerging technologies, whereas the Biden-Harris Administration stifles innovation through increased regulation and taxes.”
Donald Trump, the inaugural major presidential candidate to take digital token donations, is eligible to receive contributions in a variety of cryptocurrencies, such as dogecoin, Shiba Inu coin, XRP, USDC, andether.
Jesse Powell, the former CEO and proprietor of Kraken, contributed roughly $845,000 in ether. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, contributed $300,000 in the XRP token. David Sacks, a venture investor, recently convened a Trump fundraising event in San Francisco, which Alderoty attended.
Last week, Ryan Selkis, the former CEO of Messari, resigned from the company he co-founded after posting about “literal war” on Trump opponents. Selkis donated $50,000 in USDC.
At present, it seems that the Trump campaign is primarily converting these contributions to USDC immediately and subsequently liquidating them. However, in certain instances, the campaign has elected to retain the USDC.
Trump has taken a personal pledge to protect the rights of individuals who opt to self-custody their currencies. This means that they do not rely on a centralized entity like Coinbase and instead use crypto wallets, which are occasionally beyond the IRS’s jurisdiction.
At the Libertarian National Convention in Washington in May, Trump also pledged to prevent Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and “her goons” from approaching bitcoin holders. Warren is an outspoken adversary of cryptocurrency.
In the interim, Trump declared that all future bitcoin will be minted in the United States if he were to return to the White House, following a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida with approximately a dozen bitcoin mining executives who expressed their support.
Many consider Trump’s selection of Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running companion to be a victory for the crypto sector. In 2022, Vance disclosed that he personally possesses bitcoin and has advocated for looser regulation of crypto.
In recent years, the SEC has intensified its enforcement of the cryptocurrency sector, as the Biden White House has increased its regulatory efforts.
Source : CNBC News
