DeSantis Bitcoin Speech | Fortune Crypto

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially kicked off his presidential campaign Wednesday night, laying out his priorities during a glitch-filled Twitter Spaces event with Elon Musk. His statement included familiar red meat for the Republican base, including tirades about Disney and woke corporations, but also a long riff about crypto.

You have every right to make Bitcoin. The only reason these people in Washington don’t like it is because they don’t control it. said while claiming that Bitcoin is a threat to central planners in the Biden administration who want to control everything.

It is interesting on several levels. First of all, it’s a shrewd move by DeSantis on a political level. His statement makes him the first major presidential candidate who is an openly pro-crypto stance certain to unlock a flood of campaign donations. In theory, it should be difficult for a politician who enjoys criticizing corporate government that disagrees with it to appeal to the freedom-loving crypto community. But as Bitcoin Miamis kissed goofy Democratic Rep. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a week ago showed, the community will overlook anything as long as a candidate praises the crypto. The result is that DeSantis, for now, has the inside lane with a highly motivated constituency, many of whom are millionaires or billionaires.

DeSantiss’ speech was also notable because he only mentioned Bitcoin, not crypto more broadly. This will likely upset some members of the Ethereum crowd and boosters of other blockchains, but it’s likely a wise move by the governor at a time when Bitcoin is the only coin that regulators haven’t tried to toss as security.

More broadly, DeSantiss Bitcoin’s speech is intriguing because of the platform he chose to make the announcement on. By all accounts, the Twitter Spaces event was a debacle, the live stream was garbled and chaotic, forcing the campaign to relaunch from a different link, losing half of the audience in the process. But in the longer term, at a time when cable news is on a death spiral, it is inevitable that social media will be the go-to platform for campaigns and major political events. And given that some of these platforms, including Twitter, have built-in crypto functionality, it’s easy to imagine contestants tapping into real-time crypto donations.

More importantly, DeSantis’ speech is another reminder that Bitcoin and crypto have hit the big time. When President Barack Obama ran against Mitt Romney in 2012, 99% of voters didn’t even know Bitcoin existed, and in the next two presidential campaigns, crypto was peripheral at best. Now, however, it is poised to become a serious issue in the 2024 campaign and beyond.

Jeff John [email protected]@jeffjohnroberts

DECENTRALIZED NEWS

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A law firm that tried for months to serve Shaquille O’Neal for the FTX promotion caught up to him in an NBA playoff game; O’Neal had the process server thrown out of the arena. (WSJ)

An appeals court in Montenegro has overturned a judge’s decision to release disgraced Terra founder Do Kwon on bail. (Bloomberg)

The group backed by venture capitalist Michael Arrington has won an auction to acquire the assets of bankrupt crypto firm Celsius. (CoinDesk)

The head of digital assets business at Goldman Sachs said the bank uses blockchain technology for a range of services from settlement to repo. (Fortune)

EVEN OF THE MOMENT

Bitcoins are winning the hearts and minds of Canadians:

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