American politicians who support the crypto industry spoke out at the Bitcoin 2024 conference held in Nashville from July 25 to 27.
The crypto.news editorial team attended the event and collected the main topics voiced at the conference.
U.S. to become the world’s crypto capital
Presidential candidate Donald Trump mainly touched on topics related to the election campaign but also spoke directly about Bitcoin (BTC).
In particular, Trump said that the first cryptocurrency is the world’s ninth most valuable asset and will overtake gold and silver in terms of market capitalization.
“If we don’t embrace crypto and Bitcoin technology, China will, other countries will, they’ll dominate […] We want China to be successful, but we have to be the most successful.”
Donald Trump, presidential candidate
The U.S. presidential candidate noted that the current administration waged a war on cryptocurrencies and BTC. The authorities strangled financial services and did not allow Americans to transfer assets to exchanges, he said.
The politician added that U.S. vice president and the most likely candidate for the Democratic presidential post, Kamala Harris, is worse than former candidate Joe Biden. According to Trump, she is “crazy” and strongly opposes cryptocurrencies.
Trump noted that during his four years in power, Bitcoin has grown by 3900%, from $898 on the day he took office to $35,900 on the day he left.
The politician also said that he would fire the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on his first day of presidency. Trump added that he would appoint a person to this position who will not block America’s future.
Trump also promised to make the U.S. a mining center and said he would not allow the sale of 210,000 BTC stored on the country’s balance sheet. He believes the decision to store assets will be the”core of the strategic national reserve of BTC.
Purchasing 1 million BTC for the U.S.
Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis also announced a bill during the conference to purchase 1 million BTC for the U.S. balance sheet, which is 5% of the total supply of the asset.
She thinks that creating a Bitcoin reserve will help strengthen the dollar against growing inflation and consolidate the U.S. leadership in the global financial system.
Lummis noted that it is necessary to create a bright future for Americans by diversifying into BTC. According to the senator, the first cryptocurrency will be stored on the balance sheet of America for 20 years, and the only thing that can be spent on the assets is to repay the country’s national debt.
The bill should create a decentralized, secure network for storing BTC under the management of the U.S. Treasury Department. Also, this strategic reserve should not violate individual financial freedoms.
Daily Bitcoin purchase
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also supported Bitcoin, noting that most of his wealth is in BTC.
At Bitcoin 2024, the politician said that if elected president of the United States, he would first issue an executive order requiring the Justice Department to transfer 204,000 BTC to the Federal Reserve to be stored as a strategic asset. In addition, he would need the U.S. Treasury to buy 550 BTC daily until the country’s total capital reaches 4 million BTC.
The politician also plans to abolish taxation on transactions using the dollar and Bitcoin altogether. However, he did not rule out a scenario where BTC will be used for real estate investments as part of a tax-free exchange.
Bitcoin at $13 million by 2045
During the conference, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor said that Bitcoin quotes will reach $13 million by 2045. With the current Bitcoin price of about $65,000, its market capitalization is $1.3 trillion — only 0.1% of the world’s wealth. With an annual return of about 29%, digital gold will reach $280 trillion and 7% by 2045, he said.
Saylor called the audience for becoming Bitcoin maximalists: buy the first cryptocurrency, transfer all their assets, and move to a low-tax jurisdiction to invest the saved money in digital gold.
Bitcoin privacy issues
In addition, former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden called on American voters to remain critical and not trust politicians.
Snowden expressed severe concerns about the privacy issues of the first cryptocurrency. Despite the common misconception, he reminded that Bitcoin transactions are only partially anonymous because they can be traced to specific individuals.
In his opinion, many legislators are trying to earn the love of the Bitcoin community:
“They are not our tribe. They are not your personality. They have their own interests, values, and things they’re chasing. Try to get what you need from them, but don’t give yourself to them, even if you have to vote for them.”
Edward Snowden, former NSA and CIA employee
Minimal interest in cryptocurrencies
BlackRock‘s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, noted that the firm sees minimal client interest in cryptocurrencies beyond BTC and ETH. He also indicated that the firm expects only a few other crypto ETFs to emerge beyond these two significant digital assets.
Mitchnick also noted that most BlackRock clients view BTC and ETH as complementary rather than competing assets. He predicted that investors could allocate about 20% of their crypto holdings to ETH, with the rest to BTC.
Final Words
The involvement of many political figures in Bitcoin 2024 highlights the growing role of the crypto industry in the United States.
It is clear that as November approaches, policymakers are increasingly paying attention to the crypto industry, which has become an essential part of the U.S. political arena.
