n Saturday, July 27th, former President Donald Trump gave the long-awaited speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville.
During the address covering a sweeping range of policy topics, Trump also offered up some big bets on cryptocurrency should he win re-election in November. He pledged to act with a scale of regulatory change that could shift the balance decisively for digital assets.
Replacing SEC Chair Gary Gensler
However one of Trump's most prominent promises was to replace sitting SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has been a frequent focal point for criticism among members of the crypto community.
Gensler, meanwhile, has also weighed in on the reach of those securities laws over digital assets – filing suits against multiple platforms offering unregistered exchanges. Trump said Gensler would be "gone on day one," under his leadership.
He also added that Gensler has been "very harsh" to crypto, and a successor would enact an approach promoting new technologies.
Establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Trump also promised that the Bitcoin the US government already owns from criminal cases will be preserved instead of directly selling it.
He said this would be the foundation for an official "strategic Bitcoin reserve" and signaled that the US considers Bitcoin as a strategic asset.
Trump suggested this would be at zero cost to Americans by preventing the fund of up to $14.5 billion (in today's prices) in seized tokens from being "taken away.”
The prospect of such a strike could have implications for Bitcoin's legitimacy - and that of the wider cryptocurrency space.
Additional Pro-Crypto Platform Planks
In addition to replacing Gensler, Trump also released details of other platform positions he hopes will nurture innovation.
He pledged to commute the sentence of Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, cease "Operation Chokepoint 2.0" against crypto firms, and prevent the U.S. from establishing a digital dollar that could rival private sector offerings.
Trump ended the speech by claiming to be "a pro-Bitcoin candidate" who will instead support growth responsibly.
