As the election approaches, the showdown between Trump and Harris is undoubtedly more intense. In the field of cryptocurrency, the confrontation between the two is becoming increasingly fierce. Recently, Harris also made a rare statement, expressing support for digital assets. Trump, on the other hand, is undoubtedly more radical. Not only has he released a new NFT series, but he has also recently endorsed the Trump family’s DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, and vigorously promoted his own cryptocurrency stance.
For cryptocurrency voters, it seems difficult to believe in the wavering beliefs of politicians. But even if they hesitate, they will inevitably choose one of the two to vote for their own vision. Charles Bethea, a reporter for The New Yorker, is very interested in this group. He gained a deeper understanding of cryptocurrency voters by attending a cryptocurrency gathering in Atlanta. Who will they choose? And who are they? The article records Charles’s firsthand experiences and reflects the values and beliefs of typical American cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
Here is the translation of the original text, with some deletions due to length:
Recently, I attended a cryptocurrency gathering near Atlanta with the theme “Bitcoin Enters the Mainstream Political Stage.” The event was organized by Richie Clark, a real estate agent in his forties. Clark runs a community called Bitcoin Atlanta, which has thousands of members. He is trying to connect cryptocurrency with politics. He said, “This has always been a sensitive topic.” He mentioned that most cryptocurrency enthusiasts have always been “indifferent to politics.” Especially Bitcoin, which has long been associated with financial sovereignty, tends to criticize government overreach, such as regulation, censorship, and central banks.
Clark’s interest in cryptocurrency began in 2012 when he supported Ron Paul for president twice. “My conclusion was that operating within the existing system would not bring us any benefits,” Clark said. “We must establish a new system or a parallel system.” He continued, “Meanwhile, Bitcoin was becoming increasingly popular. So I thought this is something I can do to help pave the way.”
At the end of 2020, Clark, who had worked as an audio engineer, started a cryptocurrency consulting company, but it did not take off. In the early days, he mined some Bitcoin. “I’ve been involved in the cryptocurrency field for a long time, and people think I’m a millionaire,” he told me. “In fact, I lost most of the money. But getting away from the financial layer actually made me see things more clearly.” Since entering the cryptocurrency field, Clark has been voting in presidential elections. “It was just a reluctant vote” – until this election. He was a Trump alternate delegate at the Republican National Convention in July, in part because of Trump’s support for cryptocurrency.
“Cryptocurrency is the issue, but it also involves other issues,” Clark believes. He thinks that making Bitcoin, rather than the US dollar, the world’s reserve currency can promote peace. “Since World War I, the funding for all US wars has mainly come from inflation,” he argued. “Bitcoin has no central issuing authority and no fixed supply, so this inflation mechanism is essentially impossible.” Clark does not expect Trump to achieve this, “but he can give this technology more breathing space.”
I asked Clark if he knew that Trump’s recent support for cryptocurrency would win him votes. He told me a story about a friend in his thirties who had never voted before but decided to vote this year after Trump announced the pardon of Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht is the founder of Silk Road, an online black market that facilitated countless illegal transactions through Bitcoin, making Bitcoin one of its first major use cases. In 2015, he was sentenced to two life sentences without parole for crimes including drug trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking. “He’s a folk hero in our community,” Clark continued. I asked him if he believed Trump would fulfill his promise. “If you want to weigh between voting for someone who explicitly likes cryptocurrency and will pardon Ross and someone who remains silent on this issue, I think you have to choose the former – whether he’s lying or not.”
The meeting started on the terrace of a co-working space in Chamblee, Georgia. In mid-August, Clark planned to organize a debate among representatives of the three most well-known presidential candidates, but they couldn’t find a representative for Vice President Kamala Harris, and then Robert F. Kennedy suspended his campaign. Clark believed that most of the attendees that day were right-wing and male. “When a woman comes to a cryptocurrency gathering,” he said, “you’d be surprised, ‘Hey! What’s going on!'”
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are aware of the stereotypes associated with them. Clark told me, “We are used to being depicted as crazy fringe people.” In July, the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One published a paper titled “Political, Psychological, and Societal Correlates of Cryptocurrency Ownership,” which provided academic validation for some of these views. The paper, co-authored by Urszula Usakowska-Wolff, is based on a survey of 2,000 Americans in 2022 and has circulated widely in the cryptocurrency world.
Clark selected from the abstract: individuals who own cryptocurrency “demonstrate various political loyalties and identities. We also found that cryptocurrency ownership is associated with belief in conspiracy theories, ‘dark’ personality traits, and more frequent use of alternative and fringe social media platforms.” Many in the community consider social networks like X to be legitimate news sources. The report states that cryptocurrency holders spend a lot of time online, which is one of the few findings that Clark agrees with. “This is clearly biased,” he concluded. “But you can judge for yourself whether you think cryptocurrency holders have these psychological tendencies.”
Barbecue was provided at the gathering, and about 30 people had arrived by the time I got there to enjoy it. As expected, most of them were men with beards, and many were friendly. The first person I talked to was Joey, a theater director in his 60s, wearing a T-shirt that said “SINGLE,” “TAKEN,” and “HODLING.” As we sat down to eat brisket, Counting Crows songs played in the background, and Joey told me that he learned about cryptocurrency from his son over a decade ago when his son was mining in their basement. Joey was attracted to the “philosophical ideas behind Bitcoin” – as the country continues to print money, Bitcoin has the potential to provide us with a space for a storage currency that won’t depreciate.” I asked about Trump. “He at least recognizes Kennedy’s ideas,” Joey said, noting that he supports Kennedy more. “Trump used to dislike Bitcoin, but now he likes it. Biden doesn’t like it. Maybe he’ll change? Harris hasn’t spoken yet.” Joey was undecided after Kennedy dropped out.
Camille, 35, is an electrical engineer born in Poland in the 1990s.Not having acquired US citizenship, he has been involved in cryptocurrency trading since 2011. He used to own hundreds of bitcoins, but he said, “I was a poor college student at the time, with access to free internet funds, and I definitely got involved.” The belief in economic freedom aligns with Camille’s stance on cryptocurrency. Since his first election in 2016, he has consistently voted for the Republican Party, largely due to their stance on cryptocurrency. “The opposition strongly opposes cryptocurrency from every angle. They want to monitor it, restrict it, and even tax it. That definitely won’t work.” Trump’s support has excited him, but he doubts that many cryptocurrency enthusiasts who have not yet voted Republican will change their party. “I hope Trump’s embrace will sway people, but I haven’t seen people changing their vote, even those who have benefited greatly from it.”
Andrew, a 58-year-old software developer with a beard, stood next to a speaker. He told me, “People who have studied the principles of free currency are basically single-issue voters.” He was referring to the idea advocated by liberal economists that the financial system should limit government intervention and be based on a limited supply of currency. “The currency issue must be addressed first. Everything else is on the periphery. Whoever takes the best stance on this issue will get their vote.” He continued, “I usually don’t vote for the Democrats. But if they propose other policies – like having their own wallet and buying and selling cryptocurrency – while Trump continues to call it a scam, I would be torn. But things aren’t developing in that direction.”
As I sat next to another bearded man wearing glasses, The Wallflowers started playing. The man, who previously worked in the IT industry, initially didn’t want to reveal his name but provided his X nickname. (X seems to be a favorite among the cryptocurrency community on all major social media platforms, possibly partly due to Elon Musk’s enthusiastic support for a cryptocurrency called Dogecoin.) “Nashville has ten US senators,” he referred to the Bitcoin conference. “Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy, they’re great.” He called himself a “centrist” and said he “doesn’t trust any political party,” but he has made up his mind. “I’ve been on Team Trump since before coming to Nashville. But Trump has pleasantly surprised me. I wish WeWork – Lamar Smith, the former Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur who supports Trump – could tell him, ‘Look, there’s freedom voting here.’ Trump just went and picked up the votes. He’s practical.”
A software developer named Solomon was talking to theater director Joey. Solomon appreciated Trump’s “courage to challenge the old system.” Joey praised what he described as Kennedy’s desire to “provide good food for children and prevent all these diseases.” They both criticized the problems of corn subsidies in terms of finance and nutrition, believing it is best to avoid market intervention and corn syrup. Seizing the opportunity, I asked Solomon about his thoughts on Trump’s transformation. “I know some cryptocurrency investors now support Trump more,” he said. “They are willing to accept appeasement, while the baby boomer generation is leaning towards ‘economic mess, one-party dictatorship’… Not just because of cryptocurrency, but partly for other reasons.”
“I have attended cryptocurrency conferences four or five times, and among the people I have talked to, 80% have always supported Trump,” Joey retorted. “But when Kennedy appeared, he supported Bitcoin, and Trump said, ‘Oh, I’ll lose supporters because of Bitcoin.’ So he changed his mind. He doesn’t even know what Bitcoin is or how it works.” At least on this point, most of the attendees I spoke to agreed.
Suddenly, it started raining – the first rain in weeks – and the crowd began to move. On the way in, a man in jeans and a polo shirt pulled me aside. He said he had been the “only libertarian” since 2012 and quietly told me that most of his net worth is in Bitcoin. Therefore, policies favorable to cryptocurrency are his top priority, but he believes that regardless of the election outcome, cryptocurrency will eventually become a widely used currency. “They can’t suppress it. So it doesn’t matter,” he said. If Trump is elected, “it may benefit my net worth in the short term, but what good is being rich if you have to live in a bleak empire?” He added, referring to this gathering, “I almost didn’t want to come.”
Clark softened the atmosphere at the microphone. He told the attendees that he was wearing a $5,000 T-shirt. “I bought it in 2014 with $20 worth of Bitcoin. Now Bitcoin is worth $50,000.” He introduced a tall man named Wes, who provided brisket for the gathering and bought his first Bitcoin in 2010, making him one of the earliest Bitcoin owners present. Wes gave a brief PowerPoint presentation comparing the presidential candidates’ positions on cryptocurrency. When he talked about Trump’s promise to pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, many people nodded. Then he listed some of Trump’s demands in support of cryptocurrency, including his promise to fire Gary Gensler, the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, who is skeptical of cryptocurrency, and end “hostile” regulations.
“Next up is Biden,” he said. Clark interrupted him, which seemed carefully designed. “Hmm, it’s not Biden now. It’s Harris.” The crowd laughed. “Harris isn’t part of the Biden administration, right?” Wes said. “I want to be fair.” He listed several regulatory bills proposed by the Democratic Party. People shook their heads. Before concluding his speech, Wes summed up, “You may be tired of it, but we are Bitcoin owners.” He continued, “Vote for the legislation you believe is most beneficial to Bitcoin owners.”
Someone asked if there were any Harris supporters willing to argue, but no one responded.
Before I left, Clark introduced me to Michael Tidwell, a man in his thirties wearing a “Free Ross” T-shirt. “Biden and Harris can free him, but they haven’t,” he told me. “At least Trump says he will.” I asked him about his political stance. “I just like good things to happen,” he added that he supports “true freedom.” He described Kennedy’s actions as “a bit stupid” and pointed out that Trump carries “strange baggage.” He continued, “Normally, I wouldn’t consider voting for someone like that. I’ve never voted for a presidential candidate before.” He concluded, “But if you want Bitcoin to succeed, you have to support the person who is in the worst position. Right now, Ross is in the worst position.”
So, he would vote for Trump.
