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Donald Trump Offers Private Meetings at Bitcoin Conference for $800,000 Per Person
Despite former President Donald Trump once calling bitcoin a “scam” and “a disaster waiting to happen,” the presidential candidate has embraced the cryptocurrency in recent months to boost his appeal to an influential segment of the electorate and boost his campaign finances for the November election.
Cryptocurrency spending has already surpassed $121 million for this year’s election, and Trump is set to speak at the annual Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, to cement that figure. During the event, Trump will offer private meetups to members of the crypto industry for upwards of $800,000 per person, making the event a major fundraising opportunity for the Republican presidential candidate.
“We are proud to welcome [Trump] “and to share the solidarity of the global bitcoin community and our universal commitment to free speech and peaceful democracy,” Bitcoin Conference 2024 organizers said of Trump’s appearance.
More than 200,000 people are expected to attend the Music City Center to see Trump and other speakers at the conference. Vendors are selling “Make Bitcoin Great Again” caps and other souvenirs commemorating Trump’s appearance.
However, since the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania earlier this month, security has been tightened at the Bitcoin conference, with organizers banning large bags inside the main stage where Trump is speaking.
Outside the Bitcoin Conference 2024 convention center, a mobile billboard featured images of Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance. The van’s digital display promoted a cryptocurrency called “MAGA VP,” which isn’t officially associated with the Trump campaign but offered a special reward to those who invested $50 in the token. Even the bathrooms were adorned with ads for a meme coin supporting J.D. Vance.
Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris declined an invitation from organizers to attend the Bitcoin conference this year. [Harris] “Tell us that when she is actively imprisoning developers, forcing our industry overseas, attacking PoW… it would have been a disaster for her. All eyes are now on Trump,” organizer David Bailey said on social media.
Kamala Harris will not speak @TheBitcoinConf. No surprise. What can she tell us when she is actively imprisoning developers, forcing our industry to move abroad, attacking PoW… it would have been a disaster for her.
All eyes are now on Trump.
— David Bailey🇵🇷 0.65mm/btc is the floor (@DavidFBailey) July 24, 2024
Despite statements published once decrying Bitcoin, Trump has changed his mind about the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Earlier this year, Trump hosted bitcoin mining CEOs at Mar-a-Lago, and in May, Trump’s campaign even started accepting donations in bitcoin, ether and dogecoin.
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During the conference, Trump is expected to outline his policy positions on bitcoin and energize a long-ignored crypto constituency. Longtime bitcoin supporters expect Trump to replace Gary Gensler, the current chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with a more crypto-friendly regulator, as well as issue more industry-friendly policies that would foster domestic innovation in the cryptocurrency sector.
I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money and whose value is highly volatile and based on nothing. Unregulated crypto assets can facilitate illegal behavior, including drug trafficking and other illegal activities…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019
Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance is also courting dollars from the cryptocurrency industry. California-based cryptocurrency firm BitGo is hosting a fundraiser next week for him and Trump in Palo Alto, California. Recent financial disclosure forms reveal that Vance holds as much as a quarter-million dollars in cryptocurrency.