Bitcoin 2024 Nashville: Donald Trump wants to ‘regulate’ cryptocurrency

By Trey Huynh July 30 2024

NASHVILLE – The Bitcoin 2024 event took place at the Nashville Music Center on July 25th and concluded on the 27th, delivering some electrifying presentations on the innovation and future of blockchain. The highlight? An hour-long speech by former US president Donald Trump who didn’t hold back on his vision for cryptocurrency. 

He spoke passionately about the importance of Bitcoin to the US and his commitment to retain all the Bitcoin held by the government and plans to acquire more in the future. There were implications in his speech that Trump wanted to mine the rest of the Bitcoins, a task currently beyond any single entity.

“For too long, our government has violated the cardinal rule that every Bitcoiner knows by far: Never sell your Bitcoin”

Trump also talked about government policy on cryptocurrency, specifically the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commisions) and how they have impeded the American users. This couldn’t be worse timing when just the week before, the SEC had approved a dozen of Ethereum ETFs, allowing the second biggest crypto to be traded.

Despite that, Trump took a direct jab at Gary Gensler, saying the head of the SEC would share the same fate as numerous participants on The Apprentice should he win the second term.

He continued his speech with the promise to make the US the capital of Bitcoin and wanted to “mint” and “make” more Bitcoins. His aim seems to be surpassing China and India in terms of Bitcoin ownership. Somewhere along the way, he mentioned new regulations on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a whole.

“We will have regulations, but from now on the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry”

What it would mean for the US Bitcoin market if Trump gets elected

If Trump follows through on his promises, his re-election could have a significant impact on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, at least in the US. 

One immediate change would be Bitcoin price. Considering his stance on crypto, Trump could bring one of holders’ (HODLers) deepest fantasies to life. We might see a massive surge in Bitcoin price even before the vote counts. But of course, things could go the complete opposite direction, potentially due to the Democratic Party members selling their Bitcoins as an effort to undermine Trump.

Another major change would be regulations. From what we could gather from Trump’s speech, he intends to reduce regulatory barriers for cryptocurrency. This could encourage more businesses to enter the market, resulting in wider adoption of crypto. A larger user base often means higher price and more investments to the network.

The problem with Trump’s plans is they’re overly ambitious. He wants the US to be the capital of Bitcoin and leading in crypto ownership, meaning he would have to overtake India who currently has more than four times as many users as America. All of this is under the assumption that those countries would even allow the US to move past them. 

Trump also wants all the Bitcoin to come from the US, essentially maximizing mining production for the next decade. This would drastically increase energy consumption, power costs, environmental impacts, and possibly even national debts.

Another issue lies in the supposedly reduced regulation of crypto. Trump wasn’t being too specific on what he wanted to do with the regulatory policies aside from basically dismantling the SEC, so we could only speculate at this point. But what he didn’t account for was the fact the SEC had put tremendous efforts into keeping large crypto corporations compliant. Over the years, the SEC had imposed accountability on giant industry names such as Kraken, Ripple, Telegram Group, BitConnect and many more for, let’s just say, the lack of clarity in their business conduct.

The crypto world brims with opportunities, but it is also fraught with risks. Regulations were established to mitigate frauds and encourage responsible growth. Lowering the reach of regulations may create an unfortunate window for malicious activities. If we want wider adoption of anything it’d make sense to have higher levels of regulations. More adoption but less regulation would be a contradiction. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is speculative and is not to be construed as financial advice or a political statement.