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A man, tied to the harness just inside the front door pubkeya Bitcoin-themed bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, head over to My ID. I reached for my wallet. But wait – it turns out it wasn’t actually working. “We’re just trying to get people over,” he told me, fidgeting. Epic prank, sir!
And then it happened, I made my way to the back room of the bar for a panel called “Currency-Based: Concepts for a Plan for Bitcoin Adoption in the Nation-State.” “How things have changed,” read the online events page. “Ideas that only a few weeks ago were laughed off by critics and commentators are now on the table.”
It’s time to determine exactly what the crypto community wants from the Trump administration on a policy level, and a few dozen players have gathered to listen to the potential of the Four Sticks panel discussing Legislative accomplishments that could define Trump 2.0. It’s off to an annoying start, as expected, but money can buy you that’s right, even digital money.
The 2024 election was a crypto election, not because there was widespread support for cryptocurrency, but because the “industry” paid handsomely to make it so. A small handful of sector whales were raised A staggering $238 million To influence the field of 2024, by far the money of companies in any industry. Most of it went to Super PACS, which spent more than $100 million on races across the country. The sector began Another $17 million To lobby already elected members of Congress. Already, one of the Crypto Super Pac, Fairshake, has uploaded, More than $100 million To influence the 2026 elections, as well.
Some of that money was spread around, like bipartisan, but most of it went to Republicans, and a lot went to Trump. (His campaign began Accept donations in crypto Last May.) Tech billionaires including Winklevosses and Marc Andreessen Millions piled into Trump campaign coffers, declaring that the Biden administration was At war with crypto. They bought into Trump Big at the height of the obvious path mania But he hasn’t left yet. Then came Kamala Harris, riding a frenzy of good vibes and strong polling before giving up after continuing. For months, it seemed like stupid money.
But if the 1920s have taught us anything, it’s that dumb money is often a matter of timing. And in the end, Crypto got their man. Now it’s time to collect.
In late July, Trump made time for a keynote speech at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” create a “strategic reserve” of Bitcoin, and implement a pesky Securities Exchange Board. Gary Gensler On the first day.
“Bitcoin’s value will be denigrated by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” said the president, who was previously a former miner.
The financial world is waiting with bated breath to find out how handsome It will be take. At least, it seems certain that the industry will be watching FIT21 Refreshing Bill. This is the crypto industry’s preferred “regulatory” standard that allows it to enjoy minimal oversight from the SEC, which it discontinued after… Passes at home last year. Crypto Council, after the first week, existing. Maybe next is a strategic reserve? (El Salvador has 5,969 bitcoins worth $625 million; Syria is Talk about embracing Bitcoin. This kind of thing is currently thriving and failing states. Why doesn’t the United States go along with this?)
The painting at the bar, and four white men – it’s Trump’s America, you can’t criticize this anymore! Panelists included David Zell, co-founder of the pro-Bitcoin Policy Institute, and Drew Armstrong, president and COO of Cathedra Bitcoin, a Bitcoin mining company. Also there was Bitcoin magazine writer “Shinobi,” who was wearing glasses, a balaclava, and a hat that said “100K,” which is less than what Bitcoin costs now, unless it has plummeted by the time you’re reading this.
The committee deliberated on three visions of making the US government a holder of the cryptocurrency, a surefire move to increase the value of bitcoin.
One is the Bitcoin Strategy Fund concept, which board players explained was a serious proposal that started “as a shitpost.” It’s very simple: the government was buying and holding a bunch of Bitcoin. If you are thinking, Hey, wait a second, urging the government to buy this digital asset, the instrument of which is still fairly sketchy, sounds awful like a scheme to raise the price and valuation of the currency to all the people who already have it – already gives them to dispose of while the government is stuck with a digital trinket that doesn’t It seems no one claims to have any use anymore– Then… you probably don’t have any Bitcoin. There was no obvious concern about the value of the coins, anyway.
One Wyoming senator, Republican Cynthia Lummis, has introduced a bill that would require the US government to purchase 1 million bitcoins over five years. They cost $100,000 each. Where will this money come from? Well, Zell explained, Lummis’ office believes the government has enough money if it sells or borrows (or engages in some accounting tricks with) its gold stocks, thus generating the money needed to buy those hauls.
If the government can raise this revenue, why not spend it on literally anything else? “If we were to sell gold, we could use it to keep the Social Security Ponzi system going longer,” Zell suggested, noting a potential setback in that strategy. It doesn’t matter.
The second option is what Trump has pledged: to take all the coins seized by the US government in its breach of The Silk Road and Bitfinex illicit online drug ring, accumulate them in the fund, and call it a day. It is ultimately a branding exercise. Will that do anything? Probably not, but it would give an indication of government support, thus making cryptocurrencies look more legitimate.
The third thing would be an executive order, which Trump has already proven adept at creating an exchange stabilization fund at the Treasury Department that would allow it to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin as if it were a foreign currency. But this, too, presented some legal and technical challenges — most of which, I’ll be honest, I can’t pretend to fully understand.
I was trying to be serious about this, and trying hard to understand the rationale for the US in the Bitcoin game. But there was a lot of overly technical language. There have been launches about “petrification” and “protocol.” There were jokes that didn’t pass me by at all. (I don’t think the US government is going to crush Coinbase.)
But one thing that was certain was that everyone would become very rich. “We’re overextended because Trump is going to pump our bags into the kingdom,” warned one attendee during the question-and-answer period, an injunction to take this responsibility seriously.
Not everyone agreed on what this responsibility was – or whether it was for the country or the currency. Zell said the US government He should Buy Bitcoin. The shinobi disagreed.
There was consensus on certain things. One was that the federal deficit was out of control, and needed to be cut. There have been some suggestions that the federal government could buy a bunch of bitcoin, let it appreciate, and then sell it to pay off debt. Shinobi, who was against the Strategic Reserve purchases, said the deficit was already so astronomical that the country was essentially a lost cause.
In the event of a great boating contest with China or Russia, it would be advantageous, some believe, for the United States to own Bitcoin, simply because it means there will be less Bitcoin for China or Russia. Storage resources have always been a good policy. Also, infrastructure spending may be good.
Reduce deficit, prepare for war, treasure resources and wealth. Strip away the technical language, some of it older and more traditional conservative. Reading recommendations are provided; The booklet published by the Koch Institute, which was founded in Koch, was praised.
In this, he did not feel that the Chamber was planning the future of the nation-state, but perpetuating the Republican Party.
certainlyyou may be thinking, This painting was an exercise in assumptions. These are not the crypto people who have the president’s ear. But in fact, the distance between Bitcoin thought tanks, Bitcoin media and the powerful Bitcoin pressure machine is not so great. Zell encouraged attendees to call Loomis’ office and speak directly with her staff. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, one of the most affable faces in Washington, endorsed A plan that calls for all governments to hold Bitcoin Just one day after he attended the panel. So this, now, is what smoke-filled rooms filled with elites making high-level policy decisions for the rest of the country look like. (It’s vape smoke, to be clear.)
Just before the inauguration, the Republican president launched a meme coin, called $trump, managed a multibillion-dollar fortune, tying his fortune in a single day. Then the First Lady did the same thing with the $Melania coin. The leader of the world’s first empire is engaging in a rummy-rich scheme that would put late-night inclusion scientists to shame.
Did Bitcoin exist to “bring down the government,” as Shinobi’s bio on X put it, or did it exist to further a false American empire? The shinobi said that there was some danger, that the enthusiasts were losing sight of the original plan to make the world better. How would Bitcoin do that? Unfortunately, this was not a topic anyone came to discuss.
“It is wise to own Bitcoin,” Zell concluded.
I was eavesdropping as a woman and a man spoke small to my left. The strip accepts Bitcoin as payment, which the man was excited to inform her. “You can use Bitcoin!” He said. “Did you use Bitcoin?”
She looked confused. “I just had water” to reply.
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