Looking at the U.S. government’s attitude towards crypto community culture from Biden’s “laser eyes”

Author: Qin Jin, Carbon Chain Value

Bitcoin conquered Biden. Biden hopes to use the "Dark Brayden Laser Eyes" to indirectly get the young Bitcoin audience to vote for him. The Bitcoin market will naturally respond. In the early morning of February 13, Bitcoin broke through the $50,000 mark. It reached a maximum of $50,363, with a 24-hour increase of 3.53%. Hit a 2-year high. Although the reasons behind Bitcoin’s surge are Bitcoin ETFs, expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, and halving. But as President of the United States, some of Biden’s actions will have a significant impact on Bitcoin.

On February 12, US President Biden posted a photo of the "Dark Brandon Laser Eyes" emoticon on social media X (as shown in the accompanying picture) . After two days of public opinion fermentation, it triggered widespread concern, speculation and discussion in the encryption world, sports world, political world and even the entertainment world.

Why is Biden called "Dark Brandon"? This is a pseudonym for Biden on the Internet. Founded 2 years ago. This pseudonym originated from the right-wing cry of "Fxxx Biden" and was explained by an NBC sports reporter when interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown as "Come on, Brandon!". Eventually, radicals decided that the bumbling Biden was actually an evil mastermind, so progressives created the character "Dark Brandon," the laser-eyed Biden that every MAGA (political slogan popularized by Trump) supports The worst nightmare.

Maybe it's careful planning, maybe it's a coincidence. It boils down to one sentence. Biden hopes to use the Super Bowl and Bitcoin’s attention among a wide range of young audiences in the American sports circle, crypto circle and even other circles to win their votes and support his candidacy for the next term. America president. Both TikTok and X are important online forces connecting young voters. This time "Dark Brayden Laser Eyes" can be said to be a campaign manifesto for young voters, or it can be said to be a self-redefinition for young voters. Through these two methods, Millennials and Generation Z living on the Internet can re-understand their new identities and hope to be recognized by them.

Why is it said to be carefully planned? We sorted through the content of Biden’s first official video released on Tiktok, combined with the time when the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl finals, and even photos of the “Dark Brandon” expression posted by Biden’s team on social media. Whether it is the logic of the content or the timing, it is a perfect fit.

For example, before the start of the Super Bowl finals, Biden released a campaign video on his official Tiktok account. Comment on a range of Super Bowl-related questions.

In the video, Biden did not say whether he preferred the Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers, but said, "If I didn't say I support the Philadelphia Eagles , then I will sleep alone. Because my wife is a Philly girl." Biden also answered another question, "Is this football season a carefully planned and manipulated season, let the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl, or the Chiefs Is the team just a good football team? Biden said, "If I told you, I would get in trouble." Then the camera cut to the "Dark Brandon Laser Eyes" shot.

Finally, after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, Biden responded by posting a caption on social media Posted a photo of his "Dark Brandon Laser Eyes" expression and said, "It's just like what we drew." It can be seen from the timing and content logic that it is a series of careful planning arranged by the Biden campaign team.

According to "Washington Post" columnist Molly Roberts, President Biden's tweet alludes to the latest fantasy dreamed up by paranoid Trumpists. thing. Famous singer Swift and Chiefs tight end Kelce's romance on "Page Six" was not a love affair after all, but a psychological war by the Pentagon to draw attention to the couple and thereby win over the fans. Endorsement for re-election. Use this absurd statement to make the basic public laugh. The same is true for the accompanying TikTok. This is Biden's first time entering the platform and has been viewed more than 7 million times.

According to "CBS" reports, in recent weeks, surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory, Taylor Swift (Taylor Swift) and Conspiracy theories among Democrats began to gain steam amid reports that Biden was seeking the pop star's endorsement in his bid for re-election in November.

Why is it a coincidence? Biden's "Dark Brandon Laser Eyes" meme photo is not so much a support for the Chiefs to defeat the San Francisco 49ers to win the championship, but it is to some extent an indirect support for the culture of the crypto community. This laser eye expression has been used in the narrative context of the crypto community in 2021 to mean the belief that Bitcoin will eventually rise to $100,000 and hit an all-time high in the bull market.

Then why is it the laser eye emoji and not other emojis? According to the website Know Your Meme, characters with glowing eyes have been widely used in meme form since the release of the video game Mass Effect 2 in 2010. In the game, when an enemy is controlled by another entity, their eyes will glow yellow. Then people used Photoshop technology to add the title "Control has been taken" to this type of picture, and a meme was born. As subsequent memes continue to evolve, the relationship between laser eyes and Bitcoin has become inseparable.

The Bitcoin meme movement has actively participated in well-known entrepreneurs Elon Musk, Michael Saylor, computer scientist Nick Szabo and even SEC member Cythia Lummis. There was a kind of laser eye craze in the crypto community at the time. Looking at the entire Twitter square and information flow, all laser-eyed avatars come into view. Even this craze for crypto community culture has spread to domestic WeChat Moments. It can be said to have attracted widespread participation from audiences in the global crypto community. Especially young people.

In the context of American electoral politics, choosing what content to publish is often a matter of choosing how to publish it. Are you willing to depreciate yourself and work hard? To appear to be "advancing with the times", we still insist on using more promotional language. In a way, Dark Brandon's laser eyes show how culture is formed online, which is often a bottom-up cultural phenomenon formed by people with similar interests.

Biden's "Dark Brayden Laser Eyes" campaign initiative reminds me of Bitcoin maniacs, Argentinian President Milai and the President of El Salvador Bukele's remarks in support of Bitcoin. To some extent, the three of them want to wisely stand on the side of the Bitcoin audience and let the young Bitcoin audience vote for themselves before winning the presidency.

Whether Milais was running for president or writing and speaking on Austrian economics, he wisely stood on the side of the Bitcoin audience. For example, he once threatened that "Bitcoin can eliminate the central bank" and even "blow up the country's central bank" and made radical remarks about using the U.S. dollar as the national currency. Looking back, this kind of radical remarks may have helped him to some extent, not only helping him win votes from the Bitcoin audience. It has also won him widespread praise from the global Bitcoin community.

On February 4, the 42-year-old President of El Salvador Bukele won re-election as president. His greatest contribution to Bitcoin was to characterize Bitcoin as a national legal tender. Forbes said that Bukele’s re-election was “not only a political victory, but also an affirmation that the country is adopting Bitcoin.” His re-election provides him with a mandate to further advance his Bitcoin-centric vision, with It could set a precedent for other countries considering taking a similar path. The results of these policies are likely to influence global regulations and the adoption of digital currencies in other countries.

If it weren't for the presidential campaign, I don't think Biden would have opened a Tiktok account or posted "Dark Brandon Laser Eyes" on social media. It triggered so much speculation and discussion in American public opinion circles. More importantly, it will not have a profound and significant impact on the price of Bitcoin.

But this behavior itself shows that Biden is running Bitcoin incidentally for his own presidential campaign, rather than supporting Bitcoin and incidentally running for president.

You must know that Biden's governing identity in another reality is neutral or opposed to Bitcoin. In March 2022, the Biden administration signed an executive order. Criticizing many aspects of the digital asset industry and noting the dangers it could pose to the U.S. economy.

On August 25, 2023, the Biden administration announced new cryptocurrency tax reporting rules. Crypto brokers, including exchanges and payment processors, must report new information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about users selling and trading digital assets, according to proposed rules released by the U.S. Treasury Department. The rule is part of a broader push by Congress and regulators to crack down on cryptocurrency users who may fail to pay their taxes. These rules will take effect for brokers in 2025 for the 2026 tax filing season.

On January 31, 2024, the Biden administration announced measures to address excessive energy consumption in cryptocurrency production and launched the collection of electricity consumption data for U.S. Bitcoin mining operations. . The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is being asked to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the electricity consumption of certain commercial cryptocurrency mining companies in the United States. They must provide detailed information about the energy use of their operations, a key step towards achieving much-needed transparency and accountability in the cryptocurrency industry.

Despite the current government’s harsh stance on the crypto industry. According to Bloomberg, SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci suggested that the crypto community support President Biden instead of Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. He said that while the Trump administration would be more favorable to crypto regulation in the short term, "in the long term, he will create chaos and unpredictability in the legal system."

We hope that whether Biden wins or loses the election in the future, he will wisely stand on the side of the Bitcoin audience like Millay and Bukele.