Bitcoin helps protect freedom and win elections | Opinion

Former President Donald Trump once said the same thing about Bitcoin, as did many other world leaders. Like Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, the Biden administration, and the Chinese Communist Party, Trump was against Bitcoin. “It looks like a scam,” Trump said. “I don’t like it because it’s another currency that competes with the dollar.”

In truth, this isn’t surprising: people in power typically don’t care about disruptive technologies that compete with the systems they control.

But that mood is changing as Bitcoin’s user base soars, its benefits become more widely recognized, and the crypto industry emerges as a fundraising and lobbying powerhouse. FairShake, a new crypto PAC, has raised $177 million, putting it in fourth place among PACs, less than $1 million ahead of Make America Great Again, Inc.

Trump’s messaging on Bitcoin has also changed. He now ties it to his America First policies: “We want all remaining Bitcoin to be American Made!!!” He now calls himself the “crypto president,” promises to protect Bitcoin from “Elizabeth Warren and co.,” and vows to dismantle the hostile regulatory environment engineered by the Biden administration. The recently released Republican Party platform includes policies explicitly in support of Bitcoin. And later this month, Trump will deliver the keynote speech at the world’s largest Bitcoin conference.

Cryptocurrency adoption is following the trajectory of the internet. It is a fast-growing, well-funded industry, but it faces unfair regulatory headwinds and legal persecution. The crypto vote was a game changer for anyone, blue, red, or orange. Trump just seized the opportunity. That’s politics.

But Bitcoin has its own power. In fact, it is a Trojan horse. Some argue that Bitcoin is there to line pockets and to fill the ballot box, but Bitcoin is not there for either. In essence, Bitcoin is the money of resistance. It serves those outside the halls of power, especially those susceptible to financial censorship. Our political and financial elites probably don’t need Bitcoin unless they themselves face political persecution one day. Censorship-resistant money is not for censors, it’s for everyone else.

Trump’s most staunch critics paint a bleak picture of a second term: a president who is emboldened, immune to criminal prosecution, vengeful, plotting against political opponents, and suppressing free speech and other civil liberties. But at the same time, they welcome, and even conspire against, Bitcoin’s demise. Instead, Democrats should pivot to Bitcoin as insurance in case their fears come true. Even better, a pro-Bitcoin stance might help prevent Trump from winning in the first place.

First, think of Bitcoin as insurance against authoritarianism. We have seen authoritarian crackdowns in other countries, so we can learn from them. Modern authoritarians routinely exploit the banking system for their own ends. They thwart opponents by tightening financial controls and seizing assets. Russia’s Vladimir Putin is a classic example. Russia famously closed the bank of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and his anti-corruption foundation. Russian activists, journalists, and business leaders have also been financially excommunicated.

If the Trump administration becomes repressive, it will wish it had censorship-resistant money, money that dictators cannot control. In other words, it will wish it had Bitcoin. Bitcoin, as an asset, exists on its own network and functions without the cooperation or permission of financial intermediaries. Financial intermediaries are the very pressure points that enable financial censorship in traditional finance.

Many around the world are using Bitcoin to circumvent authoritarianism. Around two dozen human rights activists from 20 countries testified in a letter to congressional leaders in 2022. Navalny famously adopted Bitcoin in 2016 to circumvent censored Russian bank accounts and financial channels. His organization, the Anti-Corruption Foundation, still uses Bitcoin. The foundation used Bitcoin to pay for his funeral expenses earlier this year, according to CFO Anna Chekhovich.

Censorship-resistant money alone cannot protect civil liberties. Encrypted messages and censorship-resistant publishing protocols are also necessary tools. We also need a public willing to use them in a spirit of resistance and to defend them in court if necessary. Anyone who expects a second Trump term to be dystopian should embrace all these tools and learn how to use them effectively.

Trump wants to siphon crypto votes. Democrats would be wise to do the same. Recent polls suggest that some swing voters in battleground states are interested in cryptocurrencies. Democrats who want to prevent Trump’s victory in November could win Trump’s support by relaxing recent regulatory tightening, treating bitcoin miners fairly like other energy buyers, and focusing enforcement efforts on actual criminals like Sam Bankman Fried instead of harassing software developers who develop bitcoin privacy tools. As a means of reconciliation, Democrats could also support the bitcoin network as a peaceful means to export American values ​​around the world.

This shift in direction need not be empty, cynical vote-grabbing, because it will reflect the stated values ​​of those who claim to care about those on the margins of society. Bitcoin does not discriminate based on creed, color, gender or ideology. It provides the same services to the powerful and the powerless alike. For a party that advocates for financial inclusion and equality, Bitcoin is a natural match.

Democrats could potentially negate Trump’s recent efforts to get the crypto vote, with close margins in battleground states where a difference of just a few hundred votes could determine the outcome.

Bitcoin is a tool and an increasingly important topic in American politics. Donald Trump intends to use it to his advantage. His opponent?

Andrew M. Bailey He is a Professor of Humanities at Yale-NUS and a Research Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute.

Troy Cross He is a professor of philosophy and humanities at Reed College and a research associate at the Bitcoin Policy Institute.

Bradley Letler He is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wyoming and a Research Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute.

Kyle Sanders He is a professor of political science at Colorado State University.

Craig Warmke He is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University and a Research Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.