Donald Trump Vows to Fire SEC Chair and Revamp Crypto Policies if Re-Elected

Donald Trump has announced at one of the year’s greatest cryptocurrency gatherings that if re-elected, he will fire the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the first day.

On Saturday, Donald Trump delivered the keynote address at Bitcoin 2024, an industry summit in Nashville, Tennessee.

Donald Trump’s Vision for U.S. as Crypto Capital

The Republican presidential contender utilised the event to charm voters and solicit campaign contributions from the IT community.

Cryptocurrency has emerged as a political battleground for Republicans, with Donald Trump accusing the Democratic Party and Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against crypto”.

The audience erupted as Trump said, “On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler,” the SEC head selected by current President Joe Biden. At this declaration, the audience erupted in cheers and began chanting “Trump”.

Mr. Gensler led a crackdown on the crypto market and has previously stated that it is full of “hucksters”.

The SEC charged “King of Crypto” Sam Bankman-Fried with stealing billions of dollars from consumers of his FTX bitcoin exchange. He was sentenced to 25 years.

Trump spoke for roughly 45 minutes, outlining some of his plans for the sector if he wins the November election. He pledged to create the United States the world’s Bitcoin capital. In 2021, he described Bitcoin as a “scam” that devalued the US dollar. However, he now supports the sector.

Trump informed the audience at the event that he will preserve 100% of the Bitcoin that the US government now possesses or acquires, referring to it as a “national Bitcoin stockpile”.

The former president also stated that he would “immediately appoint a Bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council”.

Support from Tech Leaders and Crypto Tycoons

He discussed the electricity required to mine cryptocurrency. “You need tremendous amounts of electricity,” he remarked, adding that he would build power plants “to get that done” and use “fossil fuels”.

In recent months, numerous tech leaders have shown increased support for Trump’s presidential candidacy. Tesla inventor Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has endorsed Trump. The Winklevoss twins, cryptocurrency tycoons who attended Saturday’s speech, have also rallied behind him.

Donald Trump mentioned that his campaign accepts bitcoin donations, stating that in the two months since allowing crypto transactions, he had received $25 million (£20 million) in donations. However, he did not specify how much of the money were from cryptocurrencies.

Donald Trump used his speech to portray bitcoin regulation as a partisan issue, claiming that the Biden administration was “anti-crypto”.

Several Republican politicians, including Senators Tim Scott and Tommy Tuberville, attended Trump’s rally. Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential contender and Donald Trump ally, was also there.

The event also featured Democratic Party lawmakers Wiley Nickel and Ro Khanna, as well as independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Earlier at Bitcoin 2024, Democratic Congressman Nickel stated that Kamala Harris is taking a “forward-thinking approach to digital assets and blockchain technology.”

Source: BBC