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Donald Trump has shown a surprise knack for riding online trends, becoming an apparent aficionado of cryptocurrency after initial skepticism. With the ex-president rocketing toward a potential second term in upcoming elections in November, the July 13 attempt to gun him down has served to buoy crypto’s attractiveness among investors.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies soared in the wake of the attempt on Donald Trump’s life, with BTC jumping almost 10% in five days. Analysts attribute the frenzy to several factors, including:
Optimism that Trump, who once decried cryptocurrencies as a “scam” and “disaster waiting to happen” but has now embraced as an important tool against “socialistic government control,” will continue to support crypto’s core principle of decentralized finance if he wins in November. Trump’s plans to speak at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville July 27 have doubtlessly further roused crypto enthusiasts’ hopes.
Trump’s opposition to central bank digital currencies, which he has called a “dangerous threat to freedom” on the campaign trail. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies makes them the philosophical archenemy of CBDCs, whose value is fixed by central banks, and hence seen by crypto fans as another fiat currency subject to state control, with all the potential problems that entails.
Trump’s recognition of the power of memes and online trolling going back to the 2016 campaign, which cemented his reputation among meme lords as an ally. After his shooting, meme coins – typically the most volatile type of cryptocurrencies, saw a massive jump in value, with Dogecoin, Pepe, Popcat, and Dogwifhat showing the biggest gains.
The Trump campaign has happily joined the crypto feeding frenzy, raking in $3 mln in cryptocurrency donations in the latest fundraising quarter among the $331 mln total raised.
Ever since he joined Twitter in 2009, Trump has proven incredibly adept at riding popular online trends, with crypto just one example. In his recent post-assassination attempt interview with Bloomberg, Trump confirmed plans to release another collection of NFTs. “I did it three times [and] I’m going to do another one, because the people want me to do another one. It’s unbelievable spirit. Beautiful.”
