‘Greatest comeback story of all time’: crypto community reacts as Trump wins US election
2024-11-06

The Associated Press called the presidential race at 5:36 a.m. ET after Donald Trump’s win in the swing state of Wisconsin put him over the 270 electoral votes threshold to become the 47th president of the United States. The Republican candidate earlier declared a “magnificent victory” in a triumphant speech to supporters at his official watch party in Florida, with the crypto community largely reacting positively to the news.
Trump becomes just the second president in U.S. history to win a second non-consecutive term in office after Grover Cleveland in 1892 in what Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter described as the “greatest comeback story of all time,” despite previous lawsuits and assassination attempts against the president-elect.
“Bitcoin was born to operate in an adversarial environment. Foolish politicians thought they could wage war against us. Today they received our response,” Casa co-founder and CSO Jameson Lopp said. Meanwhile, Samson Mow, CEO of bitcoin firm Jan3, suggested Trump’s victory would kickstart an era of nation-state adoption and strategic bitcoin reserves.
“The people have spoken,” Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey — largely credited with Trump’s newfound pro-bitcoin stance — wrote. “Tomorrow we start work on fixing the money.”
Others were keen to emphasize the influence of billionaire X owner Elon Musk on the presidential race, with his endorsement of Trump amid record usage of the social media platform seen as a key element of his election success. Musk has talked about the potential of creating a so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” or D.O.G.E., under the Trump administration — an acronym matching the ticker for the Musk-favored memecoin Doge. "The future is gonna be fantastic,” Musk said following Trump's victory.
However, not everyone in the crypto community was so optimistic. “Glad I don't live in the U.S. today, but gladder I don't live in Ukraine,” Ethereum Name Service founder Nick Johnson said. “The U.S. just elected a convicted felon who stole top secret documents and hid them in his bathroom. Forgive me for not seeing the silver lining.”
Other high-profile crypto supporters who had advocated for Harris in the presidential race, including SkyBridge Capital CEO and former Trump White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, were gracious in defeat, congratulating Trump for a well-executed campaign.
Outside of the Republican and Democrat camps, many crypto enthusiasts, particularly early adopters, identify as anarcho-capitalists or libertarians, valuing minimal government intervention and financial freedom. They have been critical of both candidates during the 2024 campaign. However, with Trump now elected, that does not mean they aren’t keen on seeing some of his promises fulfilled.
Chief among those is Trump’s pledge to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht "on day one.” Ulbricht is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for his role in creating and operating the dark web marketplace Silk Road, a site integrally tied to Bitcoin's early history. 
OG bitcoiners, including Erik Voorhees, Michael Goldstein and Amir Taaki, were swift to remind the president-elect of the pledge, urging Ulbricht’s prompt release. “I owe everything to Ross Ulbricht. Crypto changed my life. Crypto became big because of him. He made the ultimate sacrifice. We all benefited from his work,” Taaki said.
'Being anti-crypto is simply bad politics'
Another Trump promise that the community is keen to see fulfilled is his pledge to fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler “on day one.”
“The day that Gensler gets fired should be a national holiday for the crypto ecosystem,” Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano said.
Gensler’s negative stance toward the crypto industry is also seen as a factor in Kamala Harris’ and broader Democrat losses. “Gary Gensler contributed to Dems loss. He attacked innovation while going against the spirit of the law by doing ‘regulation by enforcement,’” former diplomat Brandon Possin said.
“I hope the SEC understands what has happened tonight. On many, many issues, the voters said loud and clear that they want change. Crypto is no exception,” Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal stated. “Stop suing crypto. Start talking to crypto. Initiate rulemaking now. There's no reason to wait.”
Republicans have already won the Senate after the Democrats lost their majority, with crypto-friendly candidate Bernie Moreno clinching a win over Sherrod Brown in the Ohio race. Despite Elizabeth Warren’s defeat of crypto advocate John Deaton to hold on to her Massachusetts senate seat, Republican Tim Scott is also set to replace her as the head of the influential Senate Banking Committee.
Overall, some 247 pro-crypto candidates across party lines have been elected to the House of Representatives so far and 15 to the Senate, according to the Coinbase-initiated Stand With Crypto advocacy group.
"It's been a historic year for crypto on the ballot. We are now seeing across political lines that the force of crypto is undeniable, particularly across pro-crypto congressional candidates,” Ledger Head of Policy Seth Hertlein told The Block.
“Being anti-crypto is simply bad politics,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said.
How we got here
Trump repositioned himself as a pro-crypto candidate this year with additional promises, including turning the U.S. into a bitcoin mining "powerhouse," creating a national strategic bitcoin reserve and easing regulations for the industry. More recently, Trump also became involved in a crypto project backed by his sons called World Liberty Financial, which aims to provide DeFi lending and borrowing services similar to Aave before eventually moving into tokenized real estate.
In contrast, Harris' stance was more vague, making her first public statement about crypto in September when she said the U.S. would invest in blockchain technology under her leadership. In October, her campaign team said she would develop a regulatory framework to protect digital asset users without putting forward any detailed policies.
Bitcoin hit a new all-time high above $75,000 as the result became clear earlier on election night and is currently trading for $74,218, according to The Block’s Bitcoin Price Page — up 8% over the past 24 hours. DeFi tokens such as Aave and Uniswap posting double-digit gains alongside similar pre-market rallies for crypto-related stocks like Coinbase and MicroStrategy.
Meanwhile, the decentralized predictions platform Polymarket resolved its U.S. presidential election market after the Associated Press, Fox and NBC all called the race for Trump. Polymarket also projects an 96% chance of a Republican sweep of the presidency, House and Senate, with Trump also winning the popular vote, to the surprise of many.
It’s something of a vindication for Polymarket, which faced accusations of manipulation throughout the campaign, with detractors pointing toward prediction platforms having a mixed elections track record, whales potentially skewing the market or potential bias due to a dominance of men, crypto-natives and non-U.S. traders using the platform.
“Legacy media can't comprehend that their polls were wrong and Polymarket was right,” Lopp said. “Money talks. You just have to listen.”
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