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Crypto “idiots” and the 2024 elections
American voters will choose their next president in less than six months and, incredible as it may seem, crypto could shape the outcome. Recall that four years ago, the crypto industry would be lucky if a major candidate mentioned Bitcoin in passing. Today, candidates are rushing to relax — no doubt lured by the industry’s $100 million-plus war chest — including former president and former Bitcoin hater Donald Trump, who made praising crypto while speaking to a group of NFT buying groupies in March. -a-Lago last week.
Blockchain’s rise to the crypto big leagues has also sparked a very small drama among the crowd known as Crypto Twitter. It all started when two respected BlockWorks editors published a opinion article which had the incendiary headline “Only a Fool Would Vote Only on Crypto” but was otherwise a perfectly reasonable take. The article points out that a number of pro-crypto candidates appear motivated entirely by opportunism and not conviction, and that there are much bigger issues at stake in November than passing a crypto law. stablecoin or something else. This sentence sums it up: “Voting for a candidate you wouldn’t otherwise support, simply because he favors deregulation of an industry in which you have a profit motive, is a compromise you shouldn’t make.” »
It’s not a controversial approach, but since it’s about crypto, the editorial sparked the usual social media outcries as people lined up to attack the authors and declare they wouldn’t read never again BlockWorks. Oh, ugh-leeze. I have wrote myself about how crypto needs to stop kissing all the crazy people and demagogues who blow a kiss to Bitcoin. And while Gary Gensler’s antics at the SEC are a legitimate frustration for crypto entrepreneurs, the editorial is correct that they don’t matter next to, say, the Court’s decision Supreme Court to deprive tens of millions of women of their reproductive freedom, or of the unchecked freedom of the Supreme Court. a wave of migrants rushing towards the southern border.
In some cases, people will vote for president entirely based on crypto, and that’s their business. These will include some crypto entrepreneurs who are looking for the best outcome for their business, as well as poorly socialized young men for whom crypto is truly the most important issue in the election. But these people represent only a tiny percentage of the overall electorate (although they could make a difference in a close race). Everyone else will vote on the really important issues of the moment.
As an aside, the silly drama over BlockWorks’ editorial provided an interesting exchange between two of the smartest people in the industry on whether crypto is an inherently partisan issue. VC Nic Carter has argued that crypto is and should be aligned with the right in order to curb the left’s impulse to politicize finance. Crypto OG and staunch libertarian Erik Voorhees countered that the left and the right want to control your money, and crypto is inherently opposed to both. (You can read the exchange here). Enjoy your day.
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Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com