Crypto’s luminaries are ecstatic.
Donald Trump, the industry’s preferred presidential candidate, has won the general election.
And just as the incoming commander-in-chief celebrated his own “magnificent victory,” the crypto industry also did its own victory lap.
“Time to build, baby, build!” Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of the crypto exchange Gemini, wrote on X.
Their online revelry marks a milestone. Crypto mavens are likely to have a US president who isn’t hostile or indifferent to an obscure asset class. The expected commander-in-chief is a bonafide booster.
Trump has called himself the “crypto president.” He’s released his own NFT collections. And he’s even launched his own DeFi protocol.
A second Trump term is a breath of fresh air for an industry that has railed against what it alleges is an overzealous Administration that has been labouring to make cryptocurrencies hew to the same rules as stocks and bonds.
MAGA mania
Through the night on Tuesday, Trump’s biggest fanboys in crypto were jubilant as he built momentum toward winning a second term.
Ryan Selkis, the former CEO of crypto analytics firm Messari and one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters in the industry, was not subtle.
“I fucking love America,” wrote Selkis, whose brash support of Trump contributed to his resignation this summer as CEO. “We’re back.”
Ryan Salame, a convicted FTX executive, posted a meme on X in celebration of Trump’s victory.
pic.twitter.com/9lapOwP5HW
— Ryan Salame (@rsalame7926) November 6, 2024
It’s unclear how Salame managed to tweet as he’s serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence in prison.
And, Nic Carter, a prominent investor in crypto and vocal Trump supporter, wrote his own post in celebration.
“They tried to assassinate him. They impeached him. They made him a felon,” he wrote, listing other ways he claims people went after Trump. “He persisted. Greatest comeback story of all time.”
Dems and others
Not everyone in the crypto industry is a full-on Trumper. Some backed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Perhaps the biggest name among the Vice President’s crypto supporters was Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor and star of Shark Tank.
“Congrats @realDonaldTrump,” he wrote on X. “You won fair and square.”
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple and a Harris donor, didn’t engage with Trump’s likely victory on social media.
He did tout the success of crypto’s campaign to fund politicians who have shown support for the industry.
Congrats @realDonaldTrump. You won fair and square.
Congrats to @elonmusk as well. #Godspeed
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) November 6, 2024
Ripple is one of the largest contributors to Fairshake, a pro-crypto super political action committee that raised a war chest of more than $162 million.
One of the largest beneficiaries of the crypto industry’s mammoth spending was Bernie Moreno, a Republican candidate for Senate in Ohio.
Moreno, who’s received more than $40 million in contributions from crypto-aligned committees, defeated Democratic incumbent and crypto sceptic Sherrod Brown on Tuesday.
“To everyone who doubted it,” wrote Garlinghouse, “the crypto voter is here to stay, loud and clear!”
That’s something Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, echoed.
“Being anti-crypto is simply bad politics,” he wrote above a screenshot of the results of the Ohio Senate race, in which Brown lost.
Ben Weiss is DL News’ Dubai-based correspondent. Reach out to him at bweiss@dlnews.com.