Quick report from Donald Trump's speech at Bitcoin 2024

America should be first in bitcoin, because America should be first in everything

Hi all. Donald Trump spoke at Bitcoin 2024 today. I, uh…

It was interesting… there were several stages with several speakers at the conference. Maybe around two hours ahead of time, there was a noticeable drop-off in attendance at the other stages as people got into the security line for the Trump speech - poor other speakers! I didn’t get into the security line until 30 minutes before the speech and, although this didn’t really bother me, about ten minutes before the speech they said “all done, Nakamoto stage is full” (nominal capacity of 8000), so I ended up watching it from a nearby stage. But that was fine, you still got the crowd reactions… and I could enjoy the expo hall, when the speech began a whole hour after its scheduled time. (I had the sense that maybe there was some sort of security issue. At one point they came on the speakers, identified one person by name, and asked him to proceed to his nearest exit. Dunno what that was about exactly.)

The speech of Donald Trump

So about the speech… you have to compare it a little bit with RFK’s speech. RFK feels like more of an intellectual. I mentioned yesterday that he expressed concern that the ETFs were going to threaten the decentralization-ethos of bitcoin. It is impressive for a politician to get that kind of detail right. Trump, I had more the sense, people have told him bitcoin is a good thing. He even said something about his sons understanding it better, harder for older people like him. That’s OK, you can hardly expect a politician to have a personal understanding of everything. The big theme of his speech was definitely America first. America should be first in bitcoin because it should be first in everything.

This may have also been the first time I listened to an entire Trump speech from beginning to end. He clearly has prepared remarks, but he adds plenty to them, and he responds to what the crowd seems to like. At one point he said he would fire Gary Gensler (head of the SEC) on day one. He got a huge cheer from the crowd - the bitcoin community hates Gensler, who has made it his personal business to attack crypto, probably trying to make a name for himself as audition for a Secretary of the Treasury role under Harris. Trump responded, '“I didn’t know he was that unpopular. [Pause.] Let me say it again. On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler.” This provoked cheers of “Trump Trump Trump” - give the crowd what they want.

And about that crowd… there were some people wearing Trump shirts, and MAGA hats (also some “Make Bitcoin Great Again” hats), and a couple people wearing imitation Trump hair, actually! But, I don’t know this for certain, but I suspect if RFK and Trump had equal chances, the crowd here would prefer RFK, who clearly has a better understanding of the industry and a more personal commitment. Trump also suffers from being unable to admit mistakes - at one point, really as an aside that I suspect was not in his prepared remarks, he talked about how he did a great job during COVID, he doesn’t get credit for that. Well, nobody here believes he did a great job. But, he has a good shot of winning, and RFK does not, and the Democrats are absolutely horrendous. So here we are.

A few more comments

I’ve given you his big theme, so I’ll end with a few more comments from today that you might enjoy.

• He said that America was blessed to have the energy and genius represented in the conference room. This is the spirit that built America and will make it great again. Crypto is the steel industry of a hundred year ago. In 15 years, bitcoin has gone from something posted on a message board to the ninth most valuable asset in the world. [And that actually is quite impressive.]

• “I’m running against a low-IQ individual, her. I’m not even talking about him [RFK, I assume], I’m talking about her!” (Yeah, he got plenty of laughs from comments like that.)

• “I have great respect for highly intelligent people.”

• Talked about how much electricity AI is going to need, double all the electricity we make in the US right now. Well, we’re going to get that done. We’ll use fossil fuels, nuclear. We’ll make so much electricity that you’ll say “please, please, Mr. President, we don’t need so much electricity sir.” (He is a funny man.)

• Made the point, which I think is correct, that Democrats are talking nice about crypto right now only because they fear losing, only because of Trump, he said. If they win the election, they will be vicious. Right now they’re leaving you alone, because of me.

• This admin has waged war on the crypto industry. They slander you as criminals, but that happened to me too.

• Referred to “Left-wing fascists who weaponize government against anyone who is a threat to their power.” Accurate.

• Recognized that Kamala Harris is having a little honeymoon in the polls now, but said that’s going to go away once people learn who she is.

• Said bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty, and independence from government coercion and control. And got a big applause for that, of course.

• Said he would appoint a crypto advisory council. Asked if anyone in the room wanted to be on that council. :)

• “The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.” That was a good line.

• Said bitcoin is not threatening the dollar, the behavior of the present US government is threatening the dollar. Also a good line.

• “We will restore competence and commonsense to our capital.” Also a good line.

• Said they like the word progressive, it sounds so nice, but they will destroy our country, and it will come to be a bad word.

• During his four years in office, he said, the numbers are beautiful. The value of one bitcoin increased from around $900 to around $35000, an increase of 3900%. During the Biden admin, it is only up 50%. He joked that his speechwriters said 50%, that sounds pretty good, maybe we shouldn’t put that in. But compare 50% to 3900%.

• Said the bitcoin community understood inflation better than anybody else, and nobody listened to them. Identified inflation as a stealth tax on the middle class. Also claimed inflation was great during his presidency and the surge is entirely the fault of Biden which… I don’t really buy, sorry.

• And then, like Kennedy, said the US has a supply of 210,000 BTC, and has stupidly been selling it. His admin will keep 100% of the BTC the US government holds or acquires, he said.

• And, he committed to commuting the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. “It’s enough.” All the people wearing the “Free Ross” shirts get what they want.

• “Thank you all. Have a good time with crypto and… everything else you’re playing with. Thank you and God bless you all.”

THE END

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