Trump Crypto Promises

Presidential candidate Donald Trump may not be able to honour all of his pro-crypto campaign pledges if he is elected as the President of the United States in this coming November election. It was at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville where the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump announced his policies related to cryptocurrency and blockchain. While the former United States President had previously addressed groups to discuss his position on crypto, blockchain, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), one of the first public events where he addressed these topics since securing the Republican nomination was at the Bitcoin conference.

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Trump noted plenty of promises, including the requirement to produce “tremendous” electricity for Bitcoin mining. He noted that he would work to help the United States compete with other nations to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin . Trump stated that he would ramp up electricity production in the US using fossil fuels and nuclear power, cutting through “ridiculous” regulatory requirements. Little to no information was given on how he plans to achieve this, as incentivising this type of power generation at a time when many countries are looking for greener solutions in response to climate change seems quite challenging. 

On top of that there have already been many issues in terms of electricity consumption for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining. In Texas there have been reports of widespread blackouts from overuse of the electrical gird, and it was reported that largescale Bitcoin miner Riot was paid an astonishing $31 million in August 2023 to stop using electricity in the state. As a large industrial customer they were incentivised by Texas’ grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), as they pay certain customers to stop using energy when demand is high. This money is paid from other ratepayers and many have argued that Texas is 'flying blind' without the knowledge of exactly what amount of electricity these largescale mining firms are using.

How Trump plans to resolve this is anybody's guess. During his previous term in office as the President of the United States, Trump's administration were unable to see any significant infrastructure bill passed through Congress. This was mainly due to disagreements with other investments in renewable energy along with project funding. Any pledges Trump has made in terms of electricity production will come down to congressional support. Trump noted:

If crypto is going to define the future, I want [it] to be mined, minted and made in the USA. It’s going to be. It’s not going to be made anywhere else.”

Another key element of Trumps pledges was to remove the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler. Many in the crypto community are keen to see this happen, as Gensler has long been seen as biased against the crypto community and targeting them with lawsuits. It should be noted that very few US presidents have “fired” the head of regulatory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission or Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This is partially due to the fact most chairs tend to announce they will be stepping down once there is a change in administration. As things stand Gensler's term ends in June 2026 and even if Trump did want to fire him the official process would take months or years to finalise.