Does Donald Trump even know what a cryptocurrency is?

To anyone with a modicum of common sense, Donald Trump’s appearance at the opening of Bitcoin 2024, making all sorts of promises of deregulation and the creation of a multibillion dollar national bitcoin fund is nothing more than the frenzied populism of a man who has been told that crypto-enthusiasts represent an important segment of the vote who must be lured into the fold no matter what.

Accusing the Democrats of “wanting to end” cryptocurrencies, while promising “on day one” to kick out Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission who is widely reviled in the crypto industry, Trump went on to say he would freeze plana to create a Central Bank digital currency, while vowing to defend the right to self-custody in a speech full of clichés such as “never sell your bitcoins”. In short, he’s doing what he did with the coal and oil industries: selling himself to the highest bidder.

Still, little wonder the audience lapped up the speech: the Democrats have handled the nascent cryptocurrency industry very badly. The party has managed to needlessly generated a climate of regulatory uncertainty that has hindered its development, delaying the setting up of exchange-traded funds for Bitcoin or Ethereum until legally it had no choice but to accept them.