Is Trump’s crypto love genuine or just a voter grab? DC insider weighs in

Cryptocurrency industry insiders are looking for a friendly face in the White House, and former President Donald Trump appears to be jumping at the opportunity. The former president, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has embraced Bitcoin and other digital assets, even agreeing to speak at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Just years ago, he called Bitcoin “a scam against the US dollar” and said central bank digital currencies were “very dangerous.” The former president called cryptocurrencies “a disaster waiting to happen,” emphasizing the fact that he was “not a fan of them.”

I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies which are not money and whose value is highly volatile and in the air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate illegal behavior including drug dealing and other illegal activities….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019

However, judging by his recent statements, he seems to have taken a pro-crypto stance.

Days after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt on July 14, former President Donald Trump was back in the spotlight at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. There, amid a crowd of supporters, he announced his choice for vice president in the upcoming U.S. election: Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.

Known for his significant Bitcoin investments and advocacy for relaxed crypto regulation, Vance has been a beacon of hope for the crypto industry, and has also opposed tough SEC rules by pushing for greater freedom to innovate.

His pro-crypto stance, reflected in his social media presence, played a major role in the crypto community’s increased interest in Trump. Likewise, the market’s enthusiasm was reflected in the price of Bitcoin, which recorded some decent gains shortly after the news broke.

While some speculate that Vance’s pro-crypto stance played a role in his election, former senior advisor to Joe Biden, Moe Vela, offers a different perspective.

Vela says Vance’s choice is in line with Trump’s “broader vision,” but he questions the purity of that alignment, noting that it may not be solely due to the former president’s belief in the potential of cryptocurrencies.

“I think Mr. Vance was chosen because he is so closely aligned with Trump’s distorted, tasteless, and disastrous vision of the future of our democracy,” Vela told crypto.news.

Former President Donald Trump’s recent moves may have created optimism in the crypto community, but not all of his decisions have been met with enthusiasm.

The best example of this was his recent openness to appointing Jamie Dimon to the US Treasury Department.

This was the first time Dimon had been openly associated with the Trump administration, with whom he has had past disagreements including Trump labeling Dimon a “hyped globalist” in a November 2023 post on Truth Social.

Dimon has previously called on people to support Trump’s rival for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley.

Trump recently told Bloomberg in an interview that he had “a lot of respect” for Dimon, which was surprising. But that wasn’t a definitive decision; Dimon’s exclusion has worried many in the crypto space.

Vela sees Trump’s latest move as part of his strategic approach, calling it “political flattery and self-interest.” The former DC insider thinks Dimon would be a good fit for the role of the next Treasury secretary, but that view is not shared by crypto enthusiasts.

According to Trump, the JPMorgan Chase chief appears to have changed his stance on crypto from being a crypto critic to a more publicly known crypto skeptic. Dimon has called cryptocurrencies a tool used solely by “criminals” and “drug traffickers.”

There are concerns about what his administration might be up to, given his past statements about potentially shutting down the cryptocurrency industry. Still, Vela cautioned against overreacting and advised people to take Trump’s words “with a pinch of salt.”

It remains to be seen whether Trump’s recent strategies will win him re-election this year, but Vela believes they could push President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party to adopt a more positive stance toward digital assets.

While the Biden administration has reportedly softened its stance on digital assets, the pages of crypto history suggest otherwise. In late May, leaks suggested that the US President had quietly reached out to major players in the crypto space, but little has transpired since then.

Naturally, the crypto community is not betting on the re-election of the incumbent president, as the latest figures on Polymarket show. It remains to be seen whether crypto will be an ace up Biden’s sleeve.

But Vela hopes that crypto will play a bigger role in politics from now on.

“Crypto is here to stay and will be an integral part of our future, so it is in everyone’s best interest to embrace, empower and educate people about crypto.”