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Trump Competes With RFK Jr. For Crypto Voter At Bitcoin Conference, As Kamala Harris Seeks To Make Up Ground
NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are courting the cryptocurrency community at its flagship event, Bitcoin Conference 2024, this week, while Vice President Kamala Harris is playing catch-up by learning more about cryptocurrency.
Many Bitcoin supporters want to see more support for the currency as an alternative to the U.S. dollar and expanded mining in America. Some say that greater reliance on Bitcoin could help keep inflation at bay.
While this is a relatively niche issue compared to the economy and the ongoing border crisis in the campaign, it could play a major role in how some people vote and donate.
Nick Smith, a 27-year-old commodities trader who will vote in swing state North Carolina, said Trump has had the best position on cryptocurrency policy among the current candidates so far.
“I didn’t vote for him before in 2016 or 2020, but if I had to vote based solely on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency policy right now, I think I would go with Trump,” Smith told the Post.
“His campaign at least seems to have succeeded in shedding light on the muck of classic Bitcoin-money laundering sham,” he added. Bloomberg Trump is said to have met with Bitcoin miners at his Florida estate in June.
“I think this has opened the eyes of the average American to see that Bitcoin mining is not boiling the oceans. There are ways to use renewable solar, hydroelectricity, and other means of incentivizing cheap energy to produce Bitcoin,” Smith added.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts believe that Vance’s choice as Trump’s running mate ensures that the administration will implement policies favorable to Bitcoin. AP
The Post reported Trump’s choice for vice president, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, is a popular choice in the Bitcoin world. Although Trump is pro-cryptocurrency, calling himself a “crypto-candidate” in May, he once called it a “scam.”
Kennedy also appeared to find some momentum at the conference, where several people handed out pamphlets in support of the third-party choice, which he will address attendees late Friday afternoon.
“I think Mr. Kennedy has an alternative vision of bridging the gap between the two parties, rather than just having our side and theirs,” Doug Sako, who was outside the Music City Center handing out pro-Kennedy materials, told the Post.
“There are people who want the freedom to not be scalped. The freedom to not be sheared like sheep,” Andrew Beck, a consultant who attended the conference, said of Bitcoin’s popularity. A 2022 NBC Poll found that 21% of Americans owned some type of cryptocurrency.
Republican Senators Marsha Blackburn and Cynthia Lummis and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are also ardent Bitcoin supporters who are expected to speak at the major cryptocurrency conference.
Harris, early in her campaign after President Biden’s withdrawal from the race, will not speak here, but entrepreneur Mark Cuban said his campaign has reached out to him with questions about the topic, Quartz reported.