One cryptocurrency lawyer believes that Donald Trump’s election victory would overturn some of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s cryptocurrency lawsuits, but others point out that he has not always kept his campaign promises.
A potential victory by Donald Trump in the November election could lead to the dismissal of several cryptocurrency lawsuits from the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to one cryptocurrency lawyer — but others point out that Trump has a history of bad faith.
“I will not settle any crypto cases with the current SEC until I see the results of the election,” cryptocurrency attorney James Murphy, also known as “MetaLawMan,” wrote in a May 26 X post.
In light of Trump’s recent cryptocurrency promises, Murphy expects the SEC to be “very different.”
Over the past month, Trump has positioned himself as the cryptocurrency industry’s choice, saying he is “very comfortable” with cryptocurrencies and that the U.S. “has to be a leader in this space,” and recently pledged to commute the life sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht if elected.
Murphy added: “I can imagine that crypto cases brought by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s administration will be voluntarily dismissed because there is no fraud and no victims in these cases.”
In a post opposing X, Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran claimed that Trump has “been abandoning policy for decades” and “selling out others for his own gain.”
He added: “Like Biden, Trump was previously against cryptocurrencies and is catering to them to gain votes.”
Alexander Blume, partner at Two Prime hedge fund, expressed a similar sentiment, commenting that Trump "often makes promises to desperate people/groups for his own ends and then fails to deliver on those promises."
An analysis by the fact-checking website PolitiFact said Trump broke more than half of the 102 promises he made during the 2016 presidential campaign, compromised on 23 and delivered on 24.
Trump has also spoken out against cryptocurrencies.
During his presidency, Trump tweeted that he “doesn’t like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies” because they are “baseless.” In 2021, he also claimed that cryptocurrencies are “probably fake” and are “a disaster waiting to happen.”
However, cryptocurrency attorney Gabriel Shapiro wrote on X that “some of the vitriol Trump has tweeted about crypto” cannot be compared to “the Biden administration’s four-year witch hunt on crypto.”
Trump’s past record of cryptocurrency rhetoric and campaign promises was not enough to sway some U.S. cryptocurrency industry executives.
Mike Dudas, a venture capitalist and founder of cryptocurrency media The Block, said that while he disliked Trump "on 1,000 different levels," his commitment meant "he will allow me to pursue my livelihood and support my family, investors, founders and their employees."
Trump leads President Joe Biden by one percentage point in Morning Consult’s 2024 presidential election poll.
The United States will hold an election on November 5th.
