Attendees cheered when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., scion of one of America’s most prominent political dynasties, spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July, praising the merits of the leading cryptocurrency.
But Donald J. Trump’s campaign members, who spoke at the conference later that week, were likely sweating it out. To some observers, Kennedy seemed to be deep in the space, while Trump’s declaration was more superficial. Plus, the former president had criticized Bitcoin before recently changing his views.
“There was one candidate who took a much more fundamental position on the cryptocurrency issue, and that was RFK,” said Cody Carbone, Digital Chamber chief policy officer. Decode.
“RFK Jr. seems ready to turn some single-issue crypto voters away from Trump,” Carbone added. “He nominated Michael Saylor and Caitlin Long, which are red meat for these people.”
But now the GOP has little reason to sweat. Last week, it successfully Secured He, who is on the ballot in 23 states, announced he was suspending his campaign to support Trump.
A lifelong Democrat, he has also been invited to serve on Trump’s transition team, meaning he will be guiding the former president on future administration policies, including cryptocurrencies. Reuters Reported tuesday.
Kennedy’s 180-degree change is significant to some cryptocurrency holders, who believe it could help Trump, who has declared himself a crypto-friendly candidate, reclaim the White House. Several crypto industry executives said: Decode.
According to the experts, the independent candidate’s turnaround could inspire undecided single-issue crypto voters to back the Republican candidate at the ballot box. That could put him slightly ahead of Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been closing the gap with her opponent in the polls in recent weeks.
In an election where the margins can be extremely narrow, these additional votes could mean the difference between Americans electing a candidate who supports cryptocurrencies and one who is seemingly neutral or opposed to the industry.
“(RFK Jr.) jumping into this and supporting Trump is great for the Trump campaign, but it’s bad news for the Democratic Party and good news for crypto,” said Mehow Pospieszalski, CEO of digital asset wallet solution MatterFi.
Change the subject
Some crypto voters have supported Kennedy for months because of his deeper understanding of bitcoin and broader cryptocurrency-related issues than Trump, several crypto industry executives said. Decode.
But with Kennedy out of the picture and Democrats silent on the cryptocurrency issue, those votes are likely to flow to the former president, they say.
“RFK Jr. would have divided voters on a single issue, but right now there’s only one candidate who supports crypto,” said Burnt Banksy, the pseudonymous CEO of blockchain technology company Burnt.
Trump has been courting cryptocurrency voters for months and has been praising cryptocurrency supporters. Discussion Points For example, the May Republican platform mentioned the importance of users’ self-custody of their digital assets and supporting the rights of Bitcoin miners.
He also promised to release Silk Road creator Ross Albright earlier this summer. Bitcoin’s “Strategic Reserve” Speaking on behalf of the U.S. Treasury at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville earlier this year.
By comparison, Democratic candidate Harris’ campaign has remained silent on the cryptocurrency issue. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban told Decrypt that her team I contacted you with “many questions”. About cryptocurrency and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said the campaign Show “cooperative effort” To understand the universe, industry insiders have her camp at Decrypt. It declined an invitation from industry executives to discuss digital asset regulation and policy.
Democrats in Congress Organized roundtable Like digital Crypto4Harris Despite the event being aimed at improving relations between the cryptocurrency community and the Democratic Party, voters interested in digital assets remain skeptical of the campaign.
“You have Trump, and then you have… Harris. Harris has never said anything about crypto and is part of an administration that is currently waging an all-out war on crypto,” Warren Anderson, co-founder of Omnichain staking protocol Exocore, said Monday.
Can Skeptics Help Embrace Trump?
Trump has done more to appeal to crypto voters than his Democratic rivals, but he has faced a backlash from some crypto enthusiasts. For example, at Bitcoin 2024, a group of crypto enthusiasts protested Trump’s attendance at the event, questioning the sincerity of his support for digital assets.
But with Kennedy now joining Team Trump, some crypto industry insiders believe some of Trump’s opponents may find favor with the former president.
“Trump has already been a crypto advocate and has said he’ll mobilize some of his reserve forces, so having RFK Jr. on board could help garner even more crypto support,” MatterFi’s Pospiezalski said, especially if (Kennedy) ends up in a Cabinet position.
This could be a decisive factor in Trump’s victory in a tight race, especially since Harris is leading the former president.
not aggregate In the 2024 election survey Decision Desk HQ Harris is leading Trump by about 5 percentage points in national polls. In addition, the Emerson College poll/The Hill vote.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency prediction market Polymarket has launched a betting pool for the 2024 US presidential election. show The two presidential candidates have roughly the same odds of becoming commander in chief, with Trump leading in betting volume at 50%, while Harris has 49%.
“Having one campaign have an advantage over the others, especially one with an active community like cryptocurrency, could be the difference between winning and losing in November,” said Ryan White, vice president of communications at digital advocacy firm Think Big.
There is no data on what percentage of the U.S. electorate is single-voter on cryptocurrencies, so it’s unclear how much influence the community will have on the November election.
However, some members of the cryptocurrency industry say that the pro-crypto voting bloc could influence the election. Exocore’s Anderson believes that single-issue cryptocurrency voters have a special power over other single-issue voting blocs to influence the outcome of this election.
And Fairshake, a cryptocurrency super PAC, reportedly raised nearly $203 million in a war chest to fund the election. data According to campaign finance tracking site OpenSecrets, the number of voters considering cryptocurrency could increase between now and November 5.
“The crypto industry is incredibly mobile… there’s a lot of money there,” Anderson said. “In terms of voting on a block basis, they can move much faster than other single-issue voters.”
“People are starting to realize that this is a serious market,” he added.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair and Andrew Hayward
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