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Former President Donald Trump<\/a> will speak at Bitcoin 2024, an annual conference that also serves as a tribal gathering for fans of the original cryptocurrency, later this month in Nashville, organizers announced<\/a> on Wednesday. Trump booking the headline act at the industry\u2019s largest conference, underscores his bid to court crypto voters and harvest their dollars, a quest that has accelerated over recent months.<\/p>\n Trump, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, will headline the conference on July 27, speaking on the main stage in a 30-minute address.\u00a0Details of what he will discuss have not been disclosed. David Bailey, CEO, BTC Inc., the organizer of The Bitcoin Conference, told Fortune<\/em> in a statement that Trump will \u201cshare his vision for the future of the American Bitcoin industry and its impact on the U.S. economy.\u201d <\/p>\n ANNOUNCING: PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP TO SPEAK AT #BITCOIN2024<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/F2mwECVMTW<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Bitcoin Conference (@TheBitcoinConf) July 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Other speakers at the conference include conspiracy theorists Russell Brand\u2014who faces nine charges of alleged sexual assault in the U.K.\u2014and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an independent candidate running for president.\u00a0Last year\u2019s conference, held in Miami, drew in 30,000 members of the crypto community\u2014the largest number to date.<\/p>\n Despite telling Fox<\/a> Business in 2021 that Bitcoin \u201cjust seems like a scam,\u201d Trump headlining the conference does not come as a surprise. In recent months, Trump has been explicit in his desire to emerge the \u201ccrypto president<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In May, his campaign began accepting donations via a host of cryptocurrencies, including memecoin<\/a> Shiba Inu. \u201cAs Biden piles regulations and red tape on all of us, President Trump stands ready to embrace new technologies that will Make America Great Again,\u201d his campaign wrote<\/a> in its call for crypto dollars. <\/p>\n Then, just weeks later, Bloomberg<\/em> reported<\/a> that Trump has turned to Elon Musk for guidance on his crypto policy. Shortly after, he hosted a handful of the publicly traded Bitcoin miners<\/a> at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Following the visit, Trump wrote in a Truth Social that Bitcoin mining may be \u201cour last line of defense against a CBDC,\u201d referring to a central bank digital currency. He added that all Bitcoin should be \u201cMADE IN THE USA!!!\u201d<\/p>\n On one hand, research<\/a> suggests that digital assets don\u2019t even rank in the top ten key issues for voters. So, why has Trump not only changed his tune on crypto, but made it a key priority in his campaign? Well, while crypto may be trumped by issues like the economy, civil rights immigration, a Harris Poll survey<\/a> published in May found that one fifth of voters in swing states \u201cconsider cryptocurrency policies as a topic important enough to sway their support.\u201d In an election that has consistently been neck-and-neck<\/a>, a few hundred thousand votes in swing states could make the difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moreover, Trump knows crypto has money\u2014money the industry is willing to throw at pro-crypto candidates. That\u2019s because, for crypto, a lot hinges on this election<\/a>, not least because the current Securities and Exchange Commission administration\u2019s remains hostile towards crypto. Under Chairman Gary Gensler, enforcement actions last year rose by 53% compared with the prior year, according to data compiled by the consultancy firm Cornerstone. Last year\u2019s 46 total actions was nearly double that of 2021, the year Gensler became chair.<\/p>\n As a result, crypto is throwing money at the problem. As of May 31, the political action committee Fairshake raised around $178 million<\/a> to lobby crypto-friendly candidates. Meanwhile, fellow PAC Stand with Crypto, launched by Coinbase<\/a>, saw its membership surpass 1 million on June 4, surging immediately after President Joe Biden\u2019s May 31 veto of SAB 121, a measure that would have overturned the SEC\u2019s policy that prevents traditional financial companies from holding on to their customers\u2019 crypto on their behalf. Stand with Crypto has raised<\/a> around $179 million so far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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