Coinbase and MicroStrategy reported quarterly earnings Thursday afternoon. While the numbers were a mixed bag of sorts for both companies, attention on their conference calls turned to a familiar issue – the 2024 presidential election.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was asked about Donald Trump's speech at Bitcoin 2024 and what four more years of Democratic leadership might mean for cryptocurrency's regulatory environment.
“Crypto is really nonpartisan,” Armstrong said. “There are really strong champions on both sides of the aisle at this point and a few skeptics by the way, on both sides of the aisle, but it's predominantly, I'd say, supporters at this point.”
Earlier this week, Bernstein analysts also said crypto is no longer a bipartisan issue, and Bitcoin-related stocks are set to benefit.
Given the shifts from both sides of the political spectrum this year, Armstrong said, “we feel very lucky that this political constituency is now being taken seriously in D.C.”
The Coinbase cofounder said 1.3 million people who want to elect pro-crypto candidates have signed up with Stand with Crypto, the advocacy group Coinbase started last year.
Stand With Crypto is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization aimed at mobilizing U.S. crypto owners to advocate legislation favorable to the industry. In May, the group launched a political action committee (PAC) to raise money from its 440,000 members. The funds will be used to support crypto-friendly candidates running for the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“It's a massive voting block,” Armstrong said Thursday. “I think it was a group of people that felt underserved in the past and they felt like their — the industry and they were being attacked. And that's — we've seen a shift from both sides. Now every voter has to, of course, make up their own mind.”
Trump speech a ‘milestone,' says Saylor
For his part, MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor was a bit more supportive of Trump and said the Republican candidate's speech in Nashville was a “milestone.”
“He reaffirmed the right to self-custody, and also quite salient was to note that his policy would be to not sell bitcoin,” Saylor said of Trump. “ And in terms of the idea of not selling bitcoin elevates bitcoin to be the apex property of the nation as well as the apex investment asset. So bitcoin has really entered the global geopolitical conversation, and Bitcoin Nashville punctuated that.”
Aside from Trump's keynote speech, one major highlight of the conference came from Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who announced a bill that would see the U.S. government purchase 1 million bitcoins as a “strategic Bitcoin reserve.”
“Four years ago, all of this was unconceivable,” Saylor said. “There is a growing consensus that digital, private property is a right, and it's a natural right.”