Crypto’s Big Trump Gamble Is Risky

He stands on a stage at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville and says how much he loves crypto people. He announces a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. He promises to free Ross Ulbricht. He hands out burgers at PubKeyin NYC. He’s even forming his own DeFi project, World freedom financialcomplete with an insider-y governance model (what better way to signal someone’s allegiance to crypto than that?)

Trump says and does everything crypto wants to hear and therefore attracts millions in donations. The loud ones rage for him, culture warriors in performative hatred. He occupies a political space that the Biden administration and the Harris campaign could have occupied if they weren’t so eager for the Warren Wing. He says all the right thingsbecause Trump is the master at saying what people want him to say. He fits perfectly with crypto’s goals because his politics can be adapted to any situation and crypto was desperate for a friend.

I must confess that all of this makes me personally uncomfortable, not because I have a great love for Kamala Harris, but because Trump has a long track record of being a fair-weather friend. He might as well have a completely opposite view on crypto, if it suits him, and he has. I’m concerned about Trump’s embrace of crypto because I find it hard to believe that Trump shares principles that attracted me to crypto.