Quick take:
- A crypto wallet associated with Donald Trump reportedly holds $2.8 million in ETH.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has already declared his support for Bitcoin.
- Crypto industry experts expect politicians eying the younger generation of voters to join Trump and Kennedy.
Former president of the United States Donald Trump reportedly holds $2.8 million in Ethereum (ETH) according to official documents submitted to the governmental ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
This is not the only crypto asset associated with Trump, last year, he launched the Trump Digital Trading Cards, Series 1 and in April, announced the second series of the collection. According to reports, he earned about $4.87 million in licensing fees.
And he’s not the only presidential candidate that has publicly expressed his support for crypto. Robert F. Kennedy Jr has also thrown his weight behind crypto, especially bitcoin after buying 14 BTC for his kids.
And with the 2024 elections fast approaching, it remains to be seen whether more politicians look to crypto as part of their campaign strategy.
The last two years have demonstrated the power of crypto communities. Their ability to speak one message and the speed at which they spread it across social media platforms is incredible. And even though activity has recently slowed down, the industry has continued to grow.
On August 3, 2023, Binance revealed that it reached 150 million users. That’s a big pool for those looking to tap into the viral power of crypto. And there are several ways to approach this. Announce an NFT drop? Launch a campaign manifesto centred on better crypto regulation, and address the issue of crypto taxation. All of these and more depend on the message that’s being sent and how it is received in the community.
That is why we reached out to the experts to establish the impact such a scenario would have on the industry. And they seem to agree that more politicians will look to use crypto for their campaigns in the upcoming elections.
Phillip Lord, the President of Oobit commented: “Definitely as crypto is moving from Wall Street to Main Street – despite headwinds from regulators – politicians of different spectres will embrace or fend off bitcoin and co. for their own opportunistic purposes.”
According to Lord, crypto is the best way to get the young generation of voters in your corner. “The Gen Zeers are the voters of the future and they grow up with crypto, blockchain, NFTs, and pay apps, hence the trend will cross political party lines, not only in the U. S. but internationally,” he added.
On the other hand, Maria Magenes, Head of Marketing at Summer.fi thinks it could come down to the party a candidate is representing and the targeted demographic. “It obviously depends on the party you’re representing and the look you want to give to your campaign,” she said, adding, “I think if you want to get youth’s attention, web3 is for sure one good path to explore in the campaign. I think Web3 people are a specific target and electors segment.”
Kent Halliburton, President of Sazmining, thinks the Bitcoin community is becoming a major force in politics, so it is not surprising that three presidential candidates are embracing Bitcoin.
“For one, you get elected both with dollars but mostly with votes and the Bitcoin community is getting quite large and becoming a veritable force in the political community. Two, as censorship ramps up online, campaigns concerned about censorship have a workaround by accepting Bitcoin. (Wiki used BTC when Paypal shut down its account),” he said.
Halliburton pointed out the increasing number of countries that are embracing Bitcoin, including Argentina and then there is El Salvador, which served as the proof of concept. “IMF who said it’ll never work, are now buying El Salvador Bonds which are some of the best quality bonds you can get on the market right now,” he added.
Abraham Piha, a key contributor to the Tomi.com ecosystem says it was expected that politicians will leverage the use of crypto to drum up their campaigns going into the 2024 elections. “When the GOP nominee, who is known for having his finger on the pulse of terminally online voters, is revealed to own crypto, it’s really a no-brainer. On the Democratic side of the aisle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has already said he’d back the U.S. dollar with Bitcoin. This is a trend that isn’t going away.”
Among the use cases largely expected to come in handy is fundraising. Piha pointed to the transparency of blockchain payment methods as one of the reasons why crypto could play a role in election campaigns.
“Blockchain enables transparency in fundraising, which would improve trust in a political system in which campaign finance has bred distrust in recent years. This would attract younger, tech-savvy voters,” he said.
Philip Lord also believes crypto will come in handy during fundraisings, adding that politicians can also use crypto as a tool to “spread ideas on how digital money shall be regulated or (not) taxed and they can pay their own campaign war rooms with it to showcase how progressive they are.”
Dee Fisher, Founder & CEO at Alien Seahorse Army & Tokello thinks “campaign-themed NFTs could become a groundbreaking tool for engagement and financing.”
“The adoption of crypto in political arenas will not only underscore its mainstream potential but also prompt clearer regulations for its use in such contexts,” added Fisher.
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