Author: Jessy, Golden Finance
The bullet passed through the upper part of Trump's right ear. At 6:11 pm on July 13, 2024, Eastern Time, Trump was assassinated.
At that time, Trump could not only influence the American political arena, but also profoundly affect the direction of the encryption industry. After Trump was assassinated, the market, which had been sluggish for several weeks, suddenly warmed up, and Bitcoin briefly broke through $66,000 on July 17. The positive expectations related to the US election have been advanced.
In the early years, Trump criticized encryption, but now he has become a supporter of encryption. At present, 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 has a high probability of being re-elected as president. Trump's promised support for encryption after his election is a major benefit 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 a trendsetter in cryptocurrencies.
The industry's ICON has evolved from an industry insider to a business tycoon, and then to the former president of the United States. This is a sign that the industry is gradually moving towards the mainstream. And Trump's current position in the crypto industry indicates that the development of the crypto industry is increasingly tied to politics and the country.
First, Trump is a businessman, and then a presidential candidate
Racism, inciting profiteering, obvious misogyny, anti-environmentalism... These are all negative labels on Trump. In the increasingly divided and radical United States, these labels on him just cater to the interests of a large number of Americans at the moment.
Trump is also a very shrewd businessman. He does not pay attention to values and political correctness, but pays more attention to actual interests. The specific policy strategies are indeed guaranteeing the current interests of the United States, boosting the economy, and reducing unemployment, which is indeed in the interests of most 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 sorting out Trump's attitude towards encryption, it can be clearly perceived that his attitude towards encryption has always been driven by interests.
In fact, from 2017 to 2021, during his first presidential term, Trump was still opposed to the encryption industry. At that time, he criticized crypto assets on social media and said that he would not hold any cryptocurrency. At that time, looking around the world, the attitude towards the encryption industry was more resistance than acceptance. From the perspective of preventing financial risks, governments of various countries gave yellow card warnings to virtual currencies. As the head of a country, Trump's remarks represent the attitude of a country.
And in 2021, after he left office, during the NFT wave, Trump was deeply involved in it, issued three NFTs related to himself, and made a fortune. At that time, Trump's businessman nature was highlighted in his attitude towards the encryption industry.
In this year's election year, both Trump and Biden have stated that they will be friendly to crypto after taking office. At a time when crypto is becoming more and more popular, it is not a wise approach to go against the trend of the times. Expressing a friendly attitude towards crypto 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 at the moment, we cannot ignore that he is a businessman. This is his biggest label. Crypto is first his business and then a political bargaining chip. This year, Trump said that he would launch the fourth series of NFTs. In Trump's view, the previous three series of NFTs were successful, "45,000 sold out in one day."
Looking at Biden again, it was during his tenure that the SEC conducted strict investigations and prosecutions on the leading institutions in the crypto industry, such as Binance. During this campaign, he also expressed his support for crypto.
The change in the attitude of these politicians towards crypto can be seen earlier from the change in the attitude of their parties towards crypto. Politicians are not isolated.
On May 22 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 has received bipartisan support, with 279 votes in favor (67%). This event also shows that cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more important in the political landscape, and the attitudes of both parties towards cryptocurrencies have undoubtedly turned to support.
The two parties quickly turned to support cryptocurrencies. The most direct promotion was the approval of the Ethereum spot ETF by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which is another milestone in the development of the industry.
The original intention of politicians to support cryptocurrencies is not important, but the results are more important.
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 actually shows that the influence of the crypto industry is growing. From influencing the business community to influencing today's political arena.
For the United States, embracing cryptocurrencies itself is also in the interests of the United States. As the next US president can truly be crypto-friendly, Web3 will take another big step towards compliance, and encryption will affect more and more people and society.
Encryption is no longer a toy for 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 that he did not want other countries to take over the field of 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 severely punish and investigate, so that the industry knows that the United States has the final say and must listen to the United States. After holding the main institutions in hand, promote the development of the industry and "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 this American grow into an "American" under the supervision and guidance of the United States.
In the last round of bear market, the United States was actually unfriendly to the crypto industry, and the heavy hammer of supervision has never left the crypto industry.
First is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is 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 regulation of the crypto industry was first based on the Securities Act, identifying virtual assets as securities, and then punishing institutions and individuals on the grounds that virtual assets violated the Securities Act.
Since 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has investigated 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 "securities", and recently determined that FTX's token FTT was a "securities" and thus deeply involved in FTX's bankruptcy reorganization case.
The SEC has been suing the leading institutions in the industry. In the first half of 2023, it successively sued Genesis, Kraken, Binance, Coinbase and many other large institutions. For example, Coinbase was accused of illegally operating crypto asset securities business without registration; it sued Ripple's token sales for violating the Securities Act. And it not only regulates the United States, but also has a long reach. Previously, the Gram token issued by Telrgram for fundraising was identified as a security by it, so it took regulatory enforcement measures against Telegram's issuance and fundraising behavior 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 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 volume and misappropriating customer funds and suspected of violating 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 violations 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 SEC and CFTC in the United States conducted strict inspections on cryptocurrency exchanges and launched a year-long investigation on 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.
From the current attitudes of the presidential candidates towards encryption, the two major parties in the United States turned to support encryption in May this year. Looking back at the previous strict supervision of the encryption industry in the United States. It can be clearly felt that the United States was initially strict with encryption and long-arm jurisdiction. On the surface, it was to safeguard the interests of Americans and prevent financial risks, but these actions actually put the control of the encryption industry in its own hands. After gaining power, it will use 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 first in terms of ownership ratio. In the United States, cryptocurrencies are mainly owned by the wealthy, and most holders have a high degree of education. The United States is also the government that holds the most Bitcoin.
In terms of computing power, it has nearly 40% of Bitcoin's computing power, ranking first. The virtual currency spot ETF launched by it has the largest amount of funds. In terms of crypto venture capital, Galaxy Digital data shows that there are 324 venture capital companies focusing on cryptocurrencies in the United States, far more than the 66 in Singapore, which ranks second.
When encryption and the country are more and more deeply bound, 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 country, Bitcoin will become more and more mainstream. Although the code of Bitcoin will not be changed, Bitcoin has finally been incorporated into traditional finance and recruited by the country it originally wanted to fight against.
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