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Trump Courts Cryptocurrency Industry Votes
FE Team | Published on: July 28, 2024 11:56:50 PM
NASHVILLE, July 28 (BBC): Donald Trump has told one of the biggest cryptocurrency events of the year that if re-elected president, he would fire the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on day one.
Trump was the keynote speaker at Bitcoin 2024 on Saturday, a gathering of industry heavyweights in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Republican presidential candidate used the event to court voters and encourage campaign donations from the tech community.
Cryptocurrency has become a political battleground for Republicans, with Trump claiming the Democratic Party and Vice President Kamala Harris are “against crypto.”
The crowd’s enthusiasm peaked when Trump declared, “On day one, I’m going to fire Gary Gensler,” the SEC chairman nominated by now-President Joe Biden. The crowd cheered loudly and began chanting “Trump” at this statement.
Mr Gensler has led a crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry and has previously said the sector is full of “charlatans”.
The SEC has filed charges against “crypto king” Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing billions of dollars from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX.