Donald Trump holds a cryptocurrency wallet with a value between $250,000 and $500,000, according to a recently released financial disclosure form submitted to the Office of Government Ethics. The wallet is linked to a line of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that his campaign launched in December 2022.
The NFTs featured illustrations of Trump as a superhero, cowboy, or astronaut and were priced at $99 each. Sales of the tokens took off, including after his first indictment by a state court in New York, before dropping off after he launched a second batch in April. This crash caused the first set’s value to plummet.
Trump has made historically critical comments about cryptocurrencies, questioning their value in a way that is more akin to Democratic Party rivals than Republican peers. In July 2019, he tweeted that he was “not a big fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
However, this has not stopped others in his party from embracing the technology. Since taking control of Congress, Republicans in the House and Senate have worked to advance new bills providing regulations for crypto that have been welcomed by the industry, albeit with some reservations.
Among his GOP rivals for the White House, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have all staked out pro-crypto stances. DeSantis has promised to end what he deems the Biden administration’s “war on Bitcoin” if elected.
On the Democratic side, long-shot candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been publicly vocal about his support for cryptocurrencies. He has revealed that he and his family own about 14 Bitcoin after previously saying he was not an investor.
In the face of such openness to cryptocurrency, Trump’s attitude remains unchanged. He has previously told Fox Business that he prefers fiat currency to Bitcoin, as he believes that it competes with the dollar. He said, “I don’t like it, because it’s another currency competing against the dollar. I want the dollar to be the currency of the world. That’s what I’ve always said.”
With cryptocurrency attitudes differing widely between the two parties, it remains to be seen who will become the next president and what their stance will be on the technology. Until then, however, stay up-to-date with crypto news by subscribing to daily updates in your inbox.
