Bitcoin Bros Go Wild for Donald Trump

People line up to take their picture next to a cardboard cutout of former President Donald Trump; fist in the air, blood on his face post assassination attempt. Trump is the headliner of the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, arguably the most high-profile speaker for the conference since El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele appeared via video in 2021 to announce that he’d make cryptocurrency legal tender in his country. The halls pop red with bright baseball caps, but look closer: Most of them say “Make Bitcoin Great Again,” not “America.” The MBGA hat, one wearer tells me, is “not a political statement … it’s just for fun.” The presidential candidate claims to be the first “major party nominee to accept donations in bitcoin and crypto.” As of July 25, he’s received more than $4 million worth. Nearly two million came from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, twin founders of crypto trading platform Gemini, who Trump calls out during his Bitcoin 2024 speech, saying they “look like male models…with a big, beautiful brain.” Another big chunk came from CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Jesse Powell, who wrote that he donated $1 million to Trump—“mostly” in Ether. Wearing matching red shirts with Trump’s fist pump photo, American flag knee socks, and MAGA hats, the trio, whose X handles are @CryptoPatriot, @CryptoViking, and @MAGAPaulie, tell me their mission of “flipping” voters to Trump is all but moot at the bitcoin conference.