Leo Fibonacci, Colonel Kernel Stacker, Taproot Wizards: Meet the Crypto Enthusiasts Trump Is Courting

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This past weekend, Donald Trump became the first American president to address a crypto conference, telling an audience in Nashville that “if Bitcoin is going to the moon, I want America to be the nation that leads the way.” It’s a stark contrast from five years ago, when Trump said Bitcoin’s value was based on “thin air.” Is his conversion from crypto skeptic to crypto cheerleader real – or just a canny attempt to get donations?

On today’s podcast, host David Gura speaks to Bloomberg investigative reporter Zeke Faux about the surprising opinions he heard on-the-ground at the world’s biggest Bitcoin conference – and what that could mean for the future of the 2024 presidential election.

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Here is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation:

David Gura: Nashville was the place to be this past weekend if you are a crypto enthusiast. And even if you’re more of a skeptic.

Zeke Faux: I'm in the exhibit hall at Bitcoin Nashville. And now I'm going to do a walkthrough of the Bitcoin art exhibit. Got Cypherpunks of the World.

Gura: Bloomberg reporter Zeke Faux was in Music City at the site of the annual Bitcoin Conference taking it all in. 

Faux: I'm standing a little close to it. Yeah, it's definitely the assassination attempt photo, the famous one with the Trump standing and saying, “Fight.” The artist statement says, “Bitcoin like Donald Trump has been a polarizing figure villainized and criticized by many. The painting consists of thousands of dots. Made with the ash from burnt fiat banknotes.” There you go.

Gura: This wasn’t his first time at one of these. Zeke wrote a book called Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall. But what was different about this year’s Bitcoin Conference was the lineup – and who the headliner was: 

Donald Trump: Hello bitcoiners thank you very much hello it’s good to be with you it’s good to be with you 

Gura: Former President Donald Trump. 

Trump: I’m thrilled to be here in Nashville to become the first American president to ever address a Bitcoin event, anywhere in the world, anywhere in the world

Gura: His appearance at the annual conference was something of a seminal moment for what had once been a fringe financial movement. And that wasn’t lost on those who’d bought a ticket: 

Chris Kline: I was generally excited because this is the first time where we are no longer some niche group of, of, uh, funny money or fraud money as JP Morgan likes to call us, but we're, we're at the center stage.

Gabe Palma: I think it's a, uh, historical moment, uh, to, you know, have, A presidential candidate that has very high chances of winning the, uh, you know, the elections. Um, to come out here and try to wrangle votes from Bitcoiners, right? 

Gura: And it wasn’t just Trump who was there. There was RFK Jr., as well as Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican who plans to introduce a major bill about crypto. In fact, 10 Senators were there – and Senate hopefuls, like John Deaton, another Republican, who is challenging Senator Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. 

John Deaton: And we've seen that, uh, voting by crypto or Bitcoin enthusiasts can make a difference. And so we're in an election year. So it doesn't surprise me that politicians are jumping on board. 

Gura: But for Trump, it’s a bit murkier. Is the 45th president of the United States a crypto convert? Was he there to raise cash? To court voters? 

Trump: I pledge to the Bitcoin community that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris', anti Crypto Crusade will be over. It will end, it'll be done. It'll be done.

Gura: I’m David Gura, and this is The Big Take, from Bloomberg News. 

On today’s episode: Trump’s conversion from crypto skeptic to crypto enthusiast, and the impact that could have on the presidential race, and his campaign coffers.

Faux: I don't even want to count how many crypto conferences I've been to

Gura: Bloomberg Investigative reporter Zeke Faux has been to a lot of crypto conferences. In fact, this was his third time at this particular event, which is focused exclusively on Bitcoin. 

Faux: So this conference is, it's the Bitcoin conference. It's actually, I believe, a rule that you can't mention other coins while you're on stage. 

Gura: Since he’s been going to the Bitcoin Conference, the industry has changed dramatically. His first time was back in 2021. It was in Miami, and Zeke says, the atmosphere was euphoric. 

Faux: Crypto was booming and there was this sense that riches were around the corner for anyone if they really set their mind to it.

Gura: But this year, even though bitcoin prices are even higher than they were in 2021, Zeke says the feeling at the conference was more muted.

Faux: I felt like this was a more subdued crowd, and that the people here were frankly, not as excited as I expected that they had gotten, Trump to come speak to them and endorse their favorite thing, Bitcoin. 

Gura: Zeke spoke to a lot of Bitcoin enthusiasts in Nashville, trying to get a sense of how they felt about Trump. 

Faux: I was walking around the exhibit hall, and I saw a man sitting under, um, there was like a giant wizard hat suspended from the ceiling that covered a seating area that was advertising this wizard themed Bitcoin project. And I saw a guy sitting there with, um, a couple of patchwork quilts that were very pretty, and I sat down and introduced myself. 

Faux: so, could you, uh, introduce yourself? Like, where are you from, what's your name? 

Colonel Kernel Stacker: Yeah, um, my name is, can I just go by a nym? 

Faux: Uh, if you, if, if, that you prefer, it's okay.

Stacker: Okay. Can you write Colonel Kernel Stacker? 

Faux: Um, how do you, it's like, it's the second kernel with a K? 

Gura: Colonel Kernel Stacker is obviously not his real name. But he told Zeke that he was a truck driver from Cincinnati who makes and sells bitcoin quilts with his mom. 

Faux: Um, this looks really nice. Do you, do you make them yourself? 

Stacker: My mom is the quilter. I do the, I do, I'm learning how to stitch right now.

Faux: Cool

Gura: Bitcoin quilts and pseudonyms aside, Ohio is, of course, a critical state in the upcoming presidential election, So Zeke asked the colonel what role, if any, Bitcoin is playing in who he votes for.

Faux: did you, in 2016 and 2020, did you go for Trump back then? 

Stacker: No.

Faux: You go Democrator third party, or 

Stacker: I've always been like, if anything, libertarian. 

Faux: Uhhuh. Yeah. Do you think you'll vote for Trump this time?

Stacker: It's a possibility. Yeah.

Stacker: I, I just might.

Gura: According to Zeke, this was a pretty common view. 

Faux: Everyone I spoke to, I would ask them, “What do you think about Trump coming to speak here? Are you excited? Does this change what you think of him?” And, frankly, most people, either already supported Trump and now would continue to support him or already supported RFK Jr and were planning to continue to support him but open to maybe switching to Trump if they thought, you know, it's a close election, maybe you got to be pragmatic. 

Lyndon Middleton: I mean, we've got Kennedy, but would. That be a wasted vote, you know, is kind of where I'm at. So I guess Trump's the only choice. 

Cory: So I'm on the realm where I don't mind if RFK or Trump wins. As long as Biden, I guess now Kamala, uh, those are RFK and Trump are in my book. Uh, I'd be happy with either candidate. 

Faux: are you going to vote for Trump this time? 

Kevin Moore: I, you know, that's, I don't know. Oh, we'll see how it goes. But, uh, but at the moment I'm voting for whatever the most Bitcoin candidate is.

Gura: But if the attendees were lukewarm, the big surprise was just how pro-crypto the former president was when he addressed the crowd. 

Faux: So, I, so I've never been to, um, a Trump rally before. And I was kind of impressed with how well he worked the audience. 

Trump: This afternoon, I'm laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world. And we'll get it done 

Faux: Kid Rock got a shout out. Um, and also all the Bitcoiners who, who are now supporting him. So, Winklevoss twins, he talked about how handsome they were

Trump: Those are great guys. They look like male models with a brain. You know they’re male models with a big beautiful brain 

Faux: The biggest applause line for Trump was he said that he would fire Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC, under his watch, the SEC has sued a number of crypto companies.

Trump: On day one. I will fire Gary Gensler and appoint a new SEC chairman. 

Faux: And this line was so successful that after he got some applause for it, he actually was like, Oh, you guys really liked that one. So he said it again.

Trump: I didn’t know he was that unpopular. Wow I didn’t know he was that unpopular. Let me say it again: on day one I will fire Gary Gensler 

Faux: He said, you know, if Bitcoin's going to the moon, the US should lead the way. He said, know, we can't let China dominate this industry, which is kind of weird because China has actually, um, made moves to ban the crypto industry but the big thing that Trump announced at the end was that the U.S. will establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Trump: If I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future

Faux: There was no talk of Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, all the crypto scams that we've seen in the last couple years. Like, even these Bitcoiners would tell you there was, like, a million scams. If anything, the enforcement should have been quicker. You know, we should be saying, Why didn't you stop all these crypto scams? 

Gura: but none of that

Faux: No, none of that. Um, I was impressed by how successful the Bitcoin industry was at getting Trump on their side. Um, he really said a lot of things that like they would have wanted him to say.

Gura: Coming up after the break: inside Trump’s transformation from crypto skeptic to crypto enthusiast and what that means for the 2024 US presidential race.

Gura: When Donald Trump was in the White House, he wasn’t a bitcoin booster. Far from it. But Trump’s attitude changed in 2022:

Trump: Hello, everyone. This is Donald Trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time – better than Lincoln, better than Washington, with an important announcement to make. I'm doing my first official Donald J. Trump NFT collection right here and right now. They're called Trump Digital Trading Cards. 

Gura: Trump recognized there was money to be made in crypto, and part of his pitch was, if you bought one of those non-fungible tokens, you’d get a chance to meet him:

Trump: Here’s one of the best parts. Each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes, like dinner with me. I don’t know if that’s an amazing prize, but it’s what we have

Gura: Each of those NFTs cost 99 bucks, and they sold out. And Bloomberg’s Zeke Faux says Trump made good on at least one of those “amazing prizes” he teased in that ad: 

Faux: So, a few months ago, there was this big gathering of people who bought the Trump cards at Mar-a-Lago. Trump was there, and he said some nicer things about crypto, and I think was pleased by the response.

Gura: In the months that followed, Trump held another crypto get-together at his club in South Florida, with bitcoin miners. And according to Zeke, he listened as they talked about the industry.

Faux: Some people have been throwing out this idea that this is a way to win votes. I am unconvinced.

Gura: But according to Zeke, that was the message on stage in Nashville. 

Trump, RFK Jr., and a handful of lawmakers appealed to the crypto community for their votes, as they criticized the current president for not embracing what they see as the future of finance. 

But interestingly, Zeke says several of the conference goers he talked to said they were reserving judgment on Vice President Harris: 

Faux: There's been no word from her campaign officially about what she thinks about crypto.

Gura: In recent days, there have been reports Harris’ campaign has reached out to prominent players in the world of crypto, and there’s bipartisan pressure for her to embrace the crypto community as a potentially decisive voting bloc. 

Faux: A group of Democrats sent a letter to Harris saying that crypto was on the top of voters’ minds in swing states, and that they, uh, Harris should get with the program. Um, I just think, I think that's really unlikely, and that honestly the average person, if you ask them about crypto, has a low opinion of crypto, but doesn't care that much.

Gura: Zeke left the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville with a sense that, just as Donald Trump’s attitude toward crypto has changed, there’s also been an evolution in bitcoin more broadly:

Faux: It's supposed to be a way to like, resist censorship, resist the state, this idea that, somehow it needs the state is antithetical to its origins. And I was kind of expecting to meet more people at the conference who felt that way.

Gura: But Zeke says that anti-government, anti-establishment ethos has started to fade. Now, some of its biggest proponents are kowtowing to political candidates, and they’re suggesting the US government should hold millions of dollars worth of bitcoin. Well Zeke wonders if Trump’s decision to embrace crypto has anything to do with that philosophy, or if his calculus is much simpler: 

Faux: A lot of industries want you to take controversial positions in exchange for their support. With Bitcoiners, you just have to say nice things about Bitcoin, and they'll write you a check. So in my opinion, it's kind of an easy way to raise some money.

Gura: Which is exactly what happened in Nashville:

Trump spoke. He railed against regulation He spoke admiringly of crypto’s potential And now the price of bitcoin is rising to almost $70,000 on Monday my . Not far from its record high. And Trump went to a fundraiser, where tickets cost more than 800-grand each.

Faux: Numbers being thrown around that this fundraiser could have raised 30 or 50 million. 

Gura: According to a Bloomberg analysis, crypto donors have given more money this cycle than in all the past ones put together. And that’s before this weekend’s haul. 

Zeke spoke to Mike Belshe – the CEO of BitGo, who is hosting a fundraising dinner with Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, on Monday. $3,300 gets you a seat; $25,000 secures you a place on a roundtable. But Belshe says he’s not just courting Republicans 

Mike Belshe: So, you know, there's this phrase, and I don't know who it's attributed to, but, you know, First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win. And, and I think for Bitcoin, we're somewhere between those last two stages, right? There's people in the Republican party that don't think crypto is a good idea. There's people in the Democratic party that don't think crypto is a good idea, but that doesn't mean that the party thinks that it's a bad idea. And I think what we're seeing is that shift right now. Kamala Harris is going to come out total pro crypto. Um, to try to diffuse any advantage that, uh, Trump may have with it-you know being pro-crypto. 

Gura: But for those in attendance at the bitcoin conference in Nashville, should Trump win or lose, they believe in one thing, fervently. That bitcoin’s price can only do one thing: go up. 

Ron Richards: when you look at the blockchain and where this thing's going with Bitcoin and now with Trump support and all these politicians getting behind it, how can you not believe?

Nick Passino: I always said when I first got into Bitcoin. If I could ever, if they'll politics and crypto can kind of collide together, and I can make an impact in regards to that. That would be a dream come true. It's coming true.

Trump: Thank you all. Have a good time with your Bitcoin and your crypto and everything else that you’re playing with. and we’re going to make that one of the great industries on earth fade

Gura: This is The Big Take, from Bloomberg News. I’m David Gura

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