Written by: Jessy, Golden Finance
The bullet passed through the upper part of Trump's right ear, and Trump was assassinated at 6:11 p.m. Eastern Time on July 13, 2024.
At that time, Trump not only had an impact on the US political arena, but also had a profound impact on the direction of the crypto industry. After Trump was assassinated, the market, which had been sluggish for several weeks, suddenly picked up, and Bitcoin briefly broke through $66,000 on July 17. The positive expectations related to the US election have been advanced.
Trump criticized encryption in the early years, but now he has become a supporter of encryption. Currently, there are more than 50 million cryptocurrency holders in the United States. It is a very realistic consideration that in order to win the votes of these people, Trump should also support encryption.
According to the current public opinion in the United States, Trump is likely to be re-elected as president. Trump's promise to support encryption after his election is a major boon to the industry. The support of a country's president for encryption will promote the accelerated compliance and rapid popularization of the encryption industry.
In the last bull market, Musk was the strongest promoter of cryptocurrency, and he made Doge popular. In this bull market, Trump has undoubtedly taken over from Musk and become the trendsetting figure of cryptocurrency.
The industry's ICON has evolved from an industry insider to a business tycoon to a former US president, which is a sign that the industry is gradually moving towards the mainstream. Trump's current position in the crypto industry indicates that the development of the crypto industry is becoming more and more closely tied to politics and the country.
Trump is a businessman first, then a presidential candidate
Racism, incitement to profiteering, obvious misogyny, anti-environmentalism... these are all negative labels on Trump. In an increasingly divided and radical America, these labels just cater to the interests of a large number of Americans today.
Trump is also a very shrewd businessman. He does not care about values or political correctness, but pays more attention to practical interests. His specific policies, such as boosting the economy and reducing unemployment, are indeed in the interests of the majority of the American people.
Such a Trump is welcomed by young voters. As a businessman, or to cater to his voters, choosing to support and embrace encryption is a very wise decision. By combing Trump's attitude towards encryption, it can be clearly perceived that his attitude towards encryption has always been driven by interests.
During his first term as president from 2017 to 2021, Trump was still against the crypto industry. At that time, he criticized crypto assets on social media and said that he would not hold any cryptocurrency. In those years, looking around the world, the attitude towards the crypto industry was more resistance than acceptance. From the perspective of preventing financial risks, governments of various countries issued yellow card warnings to virtual currencies. As the leader of a country, Trump's remarks represent the attitude of a country.
In 2021, after Trump left office, the NFT wave was in full swing, and Trump also participated deeply in it, issuing three NFTs related to himself and making a fortune. At that time, Trump's businessman nature was highlighted in his attitude towards the crypto industry.
In this year's election year, both Trump and Biden have stated that they will be crypto-friendly after taking office. At a time when encryption is becoming more and more popular, it is not a wise move to go against the trend of the times. Expressing a crypto-friendly attitude is undoubtedly an important means to win votes and is in the interests of the American people and government.
Although Trump is a presidential candidate, his identity cannot be ignored as a businessman. This is his biggest label. Crypto is his business first and political bargaining chip second. This year, Trump said that he would launch the fourth series of NFT. In Trump's view, the previous three series of NFT were successful, "45,000 sold out in one day."
Looking at Biden again, it was during his presidency that the SEC conducted strict investigations and prosecutions on leading institutions in the crypto industry, such as Binance. During this campaign, he also expressed his support for crypto.
The change in these politicians' attitudes towards encryption can be seen earlier from the change in their parties' attitudes towards encryption. Politicians are not isolated.
On May 22 of this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act (“FIT21”). This is a landmark legislation for the crypto market. The bill aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. The bill received bipartisan support, with 279 votes in favor (67%). This event also shows that cryptocurrencies are becoming increasingly important in the political landscape, and the attitudes of both parties towards cryptocurrencies have undoubtedly turned to support.
The rapid bipartisan turn to support cryptocurrencies was most directly promoted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of an Ethereum spot ETF, another milestone in the development of the industry.
The politicians’ original intentions in supporting encryption are less important than the results.
In the last bull market, Musk was the ICON of the crypto industry. In this bull market, the baton has been passed to Trump. This change shows that the influence of the crypto industry is growing, from affecting the business community to affecting today's political arena.
For the United States, embracing encryption is also in the interests of the United States. As the next US president can be truly encryption-friendly, Web3 will take another big step towards compliance, and encryption will affect more and more people and society.
Crypto is no longer the plaything of a small group of geeks, it is moving towards the mainstream.
Embracing encryption is also a profit-seeking behavior of the US government
In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, Trump said he did not want other countries to take over the crypto industry. In recent years, the United States has indeed become the unquestionable center, big brother and rule maker of the crypto industry.
To become the big brother of the industry, the strategy adopted by the United States is to first punish and investigate severely, so that the industry knows that the United States has the final say and the industry must listen to the United States. After the main institutions in the industry are in their hands through supervision, the development of the industry will be promoted to "ensure that Web3 happens in the United States." In an interview, Trump compared the crypto industry to a baby, and what the United States did was to let the crypto industry grow into "Americans" under the supervision and guidance of the United States.
During the last bear market, the United States was not friendly to the crypto industry, and the heavy hammer of regulation has never left.
First is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of the most authoritative committees in the field of financial regulation in the United States. It has absolute authority in the economic field and is an independent judicial system. Its supervision of the crypto industry was initially based on the Securities Act, which identified virtual assets as securities, and then punished institutions and individuals for violating the Securities Act.
Since 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating whether some crypto assets on platforms such as Binance and Coinbase are unregistered "securities". After Ethereum switched from POW to POS, the SEC determined that it was a "security", and recently determined that FTX's token FTT was a "security", thus deeply intervening in FTX's bankruptcy reorganization case.
The SEC has been suing industry leaders. In the first half of 2023, it sued Genesis, Kraken, Binance, Coinbase and other large institutions. For example, Coinbase was accused of illegally operating crypto asset securities business without registration; Ripple was sued for violating securities laws for token sales. And it not only regulates the United States, but also has a long reach. Previously, Telegram's token Gram, which was issued for fundraising, was identified as a security by the SEC, so it took regulatory enforcement measures against Telegram's issuance and fundraising on the grounds of protecting the interests of American investors.
The second is the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is mainly responsible for regulating the U.S. commodity futures, options and financial futures and options markets. In 2021, the CFTC filed lawsuits against Tether and Bitfinex exchanges, accusing the two companies of fabricating trading volumes and misappropriating customer funds and suspected violations of anti-money laundering laws. In 2020, the CFTC, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice jointly sued BitMEX and its founders and executives for failing to implement compliance measures, violating the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
In March 2023, the CFTC also filed a lawsuit against Binance for non-compliant options and futures trading and violation of KYC and anti-money laundering compliance obligations. It also participated in the lawsuit against FTX.
It is under such strict inspections and strict management that the cryptocurrency industry has suffered dark moments again and again. Especially in 2022 and 2023, the US SEC and CFTC conducted strict inspections on cryptocurrency exchanges and launched a year-long investigation into platforms such as Binance and Coinbase. In 2023, the SEC sued Binance and its founder Zhao Changpeng, which dealt a heavy blow to the crypto industry.
Judging from the current attitudes of the presidential candidates towards cryptocurrencies, the two major parties in the United States turned to support cryptocurrencies in May this year. Looking back at the previous strict regulation of the crypto industry by the United States, it can be clearly felt that the United States was initially strict with cryptocurrencies and had long-arm jurisdiction. On the surface, it was to protect the interests of Americans and prevent financial risks, but these actions actually put the control of the crypto industry in the hands of the United States itself. After gaining power, it used loose policies to support and promote the development of the industry to ensure that "Web3 happens in the United States."
Currently, the penetration rate of the crypto industry in the United States is extremely high. According to TripleA data, the United States has more than 52 million cryptocurrency users and ranks at the top in terms of ownership ratio. In the United States, cryptocurrencies are mainly owned by the wealthy class, and most holders have a high level of education.
The United States is also the government that holds the most Bitcoin. In terms of computing power, the United States controls nearly 40% of Bitcoin's computing power, ranking first. Its virtual currency spot ETF has the largest amount of funds. In terms of crypto venture capital, Galaxy Digital data shows that the United States has 324 venture capital companies focusing on cryptocurrencies, far more than the 66 in Singapore, which ranks second.
As encryption and the state become more and more closely tied, the encryption industry will undoubtedly move away from the original intention of Satoshi Nakamoto when he wrote the code in 2008. With the support of the national government, Bitcoin will become more and more mainstream. Although the Bitcoin code will not be changed, Bitcoin has finally been incorporated into traditional finance and recruited by the country it originally wanted to fight against.
