Author: Huohuo, Blockchain in Plain Language
In 2024, it is a super election year with crucial elections being held in dozens of countries and regions globally, involving a population of over 4 billion. The focus is primarily on the US presidential election. However, unlike in the past, the topic of cryptocurrency ranks third in popularity among all super political action committees participating in the 2024 US presidential election.
Just four years ago, discussing Bitcoin during presidential campaigns was rare. Three years ago, when El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, everyone was merely watching. However, in last year’s primaries, the situation began to change, marking the end of the era when cryptocurrency was on the political fringe.
On one hand, former President Trump and current President Biden are making efforts to win the support of crypto voters. On the other hand, many crypto companies are planning to inject a significant amount of cash into the 2024 US presidential election. There are signs indicating that these funds are helping the crypto industry garner more support in Washington.
Additionally, among the 12 primary candidates participating in the 2024 US presidential election, five presidential candidates have openly expressed support for Bitcoin and the crypto industry. By the end of December 2023, Argentine President Javier Milei was elected. Milei’s policy proposals include dollarization, ending currency controls, closing the central bank, significantly reducing national expenditures, and actively supporting Bitcoin…
Argentina President Javier Milei
So, which presidents and regions globally have explicitly expressed support for Bitcoin?
01
El Salvador: Nayib Bukele
In 2021, El Salvador became the world’s first country to officially recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. President Nayib Bukele played a crucial role in this decision. El Salvador, being an agriculture-driven economy overly reliant on remittances as a significant component of its GDP, embarked on the path to prosperity under Bukele’s leadership.
By November 2022, when Bitcoin’s price dropped to around $16,000, Bukele announced that El Salvador would begin purchasing one Bitcoin daily. In March 2024, reports indicated that El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings exceeded public estimates, with the country earning Bitcoin-related income through its passport program. The Bitcoin investment portfolio’s market value was nearly $205 million, with profits of $83 million from Bitcoin investment strategies.
Subsequently, on March 14, Bukele announced that a “large portion” of El Salvador’s Bitcoin assets would be stored in “cold wallets” and other related offline devices. However, a study published in December 2023 in the journal “Science” revealed that Bitcoin had not been widely adopted in El Salvador since becoming legal tender.
02
US President (Former President, Candidates)
At the end of 2024, the US will hold the next presidential election. Despite polls beginning on November 5, 2024, dozens of US political figures have expressed interest in challenging the incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden.
Among the 12 presidential candidates participating in the 2024 US presidential election, five have openly expressed support for Bitcoin and crypto assets. These include four Republican candidates: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Francis Suarez, Vivek Ramaswamy, and one Democratic candidate, Robert Kennedy Jr. According to data from FiveThirtyEight at the time, among the announced Republican candidates, Donald Trump had the highest approval rating at 54%, with Ron DeSantis following at 17%.
Donald Trump and Biden, engage in the “Crypto Election” battle. The current Biden administration (Democratic Party) has seemingly taken an anti-crypto stance, making the election of a pro-crypto candidate potentially impactful on the next crypto bull market. The majority of the Democratic Party led by Biden leans towards cautiousness regarding crypto, especially after the FTX collapse, further reinforcing strict regulatory measures. The majority of the Republican Party led by Trump, on the other hand, has shown rare tolerance towards crypto, possibly to attract votes by showcasing differing political views.
As Trump continues to advocate for being “crypto-friendly,” supporting technological innovation, and even opening a crypto donation website in May, Biden and other Democrats have started to loosen up, concurrently recruiting Meme managers. While crypto may have a small role in the entire US election, the importance of crypto voters cannot be overlooked, as a minor policy shift could significantly impact voter support.
1) Donald Trump
Despite publicly expressing a negative attitude towards crypto during his presidency from January 2017 to January 2021, Donald Trump has become one of the most crypto-savvy presidential candidates in recent years. His NFT project, the Trump Digital Collectible Card, launched on December 16, 2022, generated a total revenue of $4.87 million. According to the non-profit organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Trump’s alleged crypto wallet holds nearly $2.8 million worth of Ethereum (ETH).
Currently leading by a significant margin in polls among other Republicans, Trump’s eventual candidacy for the 2024 US presidential election remains uncertain, with more Republicans announcing their candidacy and Trump facing legal issues.
2) Ron DeSantis
On July 31, 2023, during a campaign event in New Hampshire, US presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis criticized the Biden administration’s continuous crackdown on crypto assets and institutions since 2023. DeSantis pledged to end Biden’s “war on Bitcoin and crypto” if elected president, allowing Americans to invest in crypto assets without coercion.
DeSantis also strongly opposes CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), believing that unlike crypto assets, CBDC transfers significant power from individual consumers to the central government, enabling federal control over the flow of money. He stated, “If I were president, we would abolish CBDC from day one.”
3) Robert Kennedy Jr.
Another presidential candidate investing in crypto assets is the Democratic candidate competing for the 2024 US presidential election, Robert Kennedy Jr. He belongs to the famous Kennedy family and is the nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy Jr. attended a Bitcoin conference in Miami on July 24, 2023, announcing that his campaign would be “the first presidential campaign in history to accept Bitcoin donations through the Lightning Network.”
On July 27, he confirmed holding Bitcoin on Twitter and purchased two Bitcoins for each of his seven children. Kennedy emphasized that Bitcoin is an inflation-resistant currency, offering retail investors freedom, rather than holding fiat currency controlled by the system. He pledged to exempt Bitcoin capital gains tax.
Similar to DeSantis, Kennedy Jr. has a strong belief in the future of Bitcoin and crypto, promising to gradually support the US dollar with Bitcoin if elected president. He explained that it is a progressive process, starting with a minimal scale, where perhaps only 1% of national debt will be supported by hard currency, gold, silver, platinum, or Bitcoin.
4) More
Two other presidential candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy and Francis Suarez, have lower chances of winning the 2024 US presidential election according to current polls but are still Bitcoin supporters.
Unlike DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy states that he is a fan of Bitcoin but will not treat Bitcoin as a commodity to help stabilize the US dollar, citing technical reasons. On the other hand, presidential candidate and Miami Mayor Suarez will accept Bitcoin for presidential campaign donations. Known for advocating crypto, Suarez pledged to make Miami a Bitcoin hub, accepting Bitcoin as his salary while serving as mayor. Suarez actively participates in the crypto industry’s development, believing that the US needs a president who understands crypto assets and AI technology.
03
Argentine President: Javier Milei
Javier Milei, an Argentine economist and former member of the Argentine National Chamber of Deputies and leader of the liberal movement, successfully won the November 2023 presidential election.
Renowned US journalist Tucker Carlson interviewed Milei, viewed over 421 million times on Twitter. One of the key points of this interview was about the dollarization of the Argentine economy. In his proposal, Milei emphasized the importance of closing the Argentine central bank and highlighted how Bitcoin could provide an opportunity for this process.
In his vision, after shutting down the national central bank, Bitcoin would become the primary remedy for Argentine inflation. Before the presidential election, Milei frequently appeared on various talk shows promoting the benefits of Bitcoin and crypto assets, stating that “Bitcoin could eliminate central banks.”
By adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender, El Salvador and other countries have paved the way for cryptocurrency integration into mainstream politics. With the growing support for Bitcoin and crypto within political circles globally, a new landscape is emerging where digital assets play a significant role in shaping economic policies and elections.米莱的当选导致比特币价格从30000美元上涨到37000美元，涨幅达到2.3%。
尽管米莱政府并未推动比特币标准，消息澄清称他并没有实际支持加密政策。他更倾向于美元化阿根廷经济，而非将比特币作为法定货币。肯皮斯是墨西哥公民运动党的联邦国会参议员，计划竞选墨西哥总统，并积极倡导比特币和加密资产。她提出创建CBDC法案，并希望比特币成为墨西哥的法定货币。
英国首相苏纳克在担任财政大臣期间推动经济政策和金融立法。他对多种加密货币投资持积极态度，并计划让英国成为全球加密资产技术中心。中非共和国总统图瓦德拉是比特币的忠实支持者，将比特币作为法定货币，并推动加密经济发展。
日本首相岸田文雄对加密持开放态度，提出Web3.0作为经济改革支柱的提案。巴西前总统博索纳罗支持比特币合法化为法定货币，并推动加密政策开放。这些国家的政策举措表明加密资产正逐渐走向主流金融市场，全球加密市场可能会更加一体化和强大。
