Trump, Republicans court crypto votes and dollars at 'Bitcoin 2024'

NASHVILLE: Republican nominee and former US President Donald Trump once blasted cryptocurrency, calling it a "scam". Now, he is headlining one of the industry's biggest conferences.

Trump, who made the comment in 2021, will speak on Saturday, the last day of the three-day Bitcoin 2024 convention in Nashville. Republican former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming will also speak.

Among Democrats, US Representative Ro Khanna of California is on the roster.

The industry has quickly rebounded after FTX and a series of other crypto companies collapsed in 2022, sending token prices sliding and forcing multiple companies into bankruptcy. Digital asset proponents say that cryptocurrency users are becoming a growing political force this election cycle, although it is unclear just how many users would prioritise crypto over other issues at the ballot box.

The Republican Party is courting their votes by promising lighter regulation, potentially tying a currency built to circumvent government to a major US political party.

"For most of its history, crypto was really a nonpartisan issue," said David Yermack, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, because Republicans and Democrats alike did not understand it or care to learn more.

"I do think the Republicans in the last year or two have begun to move a little more quickly in the area."

Stand With Crypto, a nonprofit industry group backed by crypto exchange Coinbase, has organised over 1.3 million advocates. Meanwhile, three major pro-crypto super political action committees - Fairshake, Defend American Jobs, and Protect Progress, all of which did not exist until this cycle - have raised over $230 million