Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, is working with Bitcoin Magazine chief executive officer David Bailey on a crypto policy agenda.
In a May 11 post on X, Bailey stated that he has been working with Trump for a month on a so-called “comprehensive executive order” to be signed on “day 1.”
“Day 1” also happens to be when Trump, according to comments made in Iowa back in December, plans to be a dictator. Trump later told Time that the remark was made “in jest.”
Additionally, Bailey pointed out that he and other players in the crypto space are looking to raise a $100 million war chest for the Trump campaign to ensure the twice-impeached and quadruple-indicted candidate gets back into the White House.
Bailey’s revelation comes as Trump — currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records —reverses his stance on Bitcoin, which he previously called “a scam” and “based on thin air.”
Trump relies almost entirely on campaign donations and political action committees (PACs) to pay his lawyers — bills estimated to be north of $100 million at the start of 2024. He’s now hoping donations could be made in cryptocurrency.
At an event in Mar-a-Lago on May 9, Trump declared, “If you’re pro-crypto, you’ll support me because the other guys want to squash it.”
Meanwhile, incumbent President Joe Biden’s camp, led by SEC chair Gary Gensler, sparked widespread criticism and opposition from top movers in the industry like Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.
Even billionaire Mark Cuban has expressed concerns about Biden’s reelection prospects, scrutinizing the SEC’s tough stance on crypto.
Cuban criticized Gensler for creating obstacles for legitimate crypto businesses, urging Congress to address the issue through specific legislation tailored to the industry.
The Biden administration has given zero indication that it’s anti-crypto. Rather, in an executive order from September 2022, the White House seemingly referenced the $50-billion crash of Terra and “the wave of insolvencies” that wiped out over $600 billion of investor and consumer funds as reasons to “harness” crypto potential responsibly.
The industry has also had many scandals, including FTX’s bankruptcy and Binance’s recent hefty settlement with the U.S. government after former CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to violating U.S. money laundering laws.
Scenarios like these have left a section of the American voting public skeptical of crypto’s overall safety and reliability, according to the Pew Research Center.
But Trump’s pandering to crypto enthusiasts comes as polls indicate that it’s a popular item among his likely supporters. For instance, a recent survey conducted by DCG and Harris Poll indicated that about 20% of American voters in swing states consider crypto a key issue in the upcoming elections.
