Trump courts crypto industry votes
Monday, 29 July 2024
NASHVILLE, July 28 (BBC): Donald Trump has told one of the largest cryptocurrency events of the year that if he is re-elected president he will fire the chairperson of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the first day.
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 emerged as a political battleground for Republicans, with Trump claiming the Democratic Party and Vice-President Kamala Harris were "against crypto".
The audience was at its most animated when Trump declared "on day one I will fire Gary Gensler", the SEC chair nominated by current President Joe Biden. The crowd cheered loudly and started to chant "Trump" at this declaration.
Mr Gensler led a crackdown on the crypto industry, and has previously said the sector is rife with "hucksters".
The SEC brought charges against the "King of Crypto" Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years for stealing billions of dollars from customers of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange.