Which candidates are friendly to encryption after the first debate of the US Republican primary?

The first debate of eight U.S. Republican presidential candidates ended on the evening of Wednesday (August 23), U.S. time. This is the first major event before the national election next year. So, what is the candidate’s stance on encryption?

Donald Trump

Former U.S. president and Republican front-runner Donald Trump was absent from the debate.

Bitweet previously reported that according to a financial disclosure document submitted to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on August 15, Trump’s Ethereum wallet has more than $2.8 million in cryptocurrencies. Nearly $4.9 million in licensing fees were earned in NFTs that his campaign launched.

Trump once stated in a personal tweet in 2019 that “he is not a big fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies” and that he supports the US dollar.

And the size of Trump’s crypto holdings almost qualifies him to be classified as a crypto “whale,” a travesty for a man who describes cryptocurrencies as “a scam” and “very dangerous stuff.” turning point.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has expressed support for Bitcoin since his first day as a candidate. During an appearance alongside Musk at the opening of the campaign, DeSantis said that Bitcoin could be “killed” if President Joe Biden is re-elected.

“You have every right to use bitcoin, and the only reason those people in Washington don’t like it is because they can’t control it,” DeSantis said.

Ron DeSantis has also criticized central bank digital currencies (CBDC). He has called the technology a “massive shift of power from individual consumers to central institutions” and has moved to prevent the launch of a digital dollar in Florida.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy

Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur, is also a crypto proponent.

Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the wealthiest men in America under the age of 40, is challenging Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second place in the Republican primary. Vivek was briefly a billionaire, but a stock market downturn cut his fortune to just over $950 million, according to Forbes.

He once made a statement at the Miami Bitcoin Conference: “Thomas Jefferson, if he is still alive, will also mine Bitcoin. I have no doubt about it. This is the embodiment of the American spirit and our human nature.”

Ramaswamy also stated that Bitcoin is not a security, denounced the Federal Reserve for trying to play the “God of Finance”, criticized CBDC, and criticized the Biden administration’s proposal to impose a 30% consumption tax on cryptocurrency mining.

Reforming the U.S. central bank is one of the main goals of his campaign, he said, and he hopes attendees will put him on the debate stage by donating bitcoin to his campaign and make 2024 a “referendum on sound money in America.”

Ramaswamy said in a CoinDesk interview in May that he was the only candidate with enough knowledge to speak intelligently about bitcoin. He also accused DeSantis of taking a pro-Bitcoin and anti-CBDC stance on many fronts.

Earlier this week, Ramaswamy received praise from Elon Musk, calling him “a very promising candidate.”

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, a member of the Senate Financial Innovation Caucus, which discusses issues such as digital assets, stablecoins and CBDCs, supports cryptocurrency regulation.

Tim Scott was also a co-sponsor of the Equal Opportunity for All Investors Act, which ultimately failed last year but attempted to define digital assets as investments and amend existing rules regarding accredited investors.

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing devoted to digital assets in February, he criticized the absence of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and asked whether the SEC was “asleep” because the agency failed to act in a timely manner against FTX. This led to the collapse of the exchange in November last year.

“The American people deserve to know why no action was taken before FTX crashed and how millions of dollars of America’s hard-earned money went to waste,” he said.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was not a high-profile supporter of Bitcoin during the campaign, but he has sent friendly signals to the crypto industry several times in the past year. Commenting on the construction of a North Dakota data center last year, he pointed out that The state has become a cryptocurrency mining hub.

“This significant investment in North Dakota will further build on our state’s growing reputation as a hub for data centers and cryptocurrency mining, and our ability to support data centers and other energy-intensive industries,” he said.

Candidates with unclear positions

Several candidates who have yet to make public comments about cryptocurrencies or bitcoin are former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and former Vice President Mike Pence.

MIAMI MAYOR FAIL TO DEBATE

According to ABC Action News, Miami mayor Francis Suarez, who has always supported cryptocurrencies, admitted yesterday that he was not eligible to participate in the debate. He falsely advertised that he was eligible to participate in the debate a week ago.

In an interview with The Block, Suarez said that if elected president, he would likely be paid in bitcoin, and he has already done so during his tenure as Miami mayor. Additionally, candidates accept bitcoin transactions.

“I think it’s very important that the president encourages innovation, and I do support alternative assets like cryptocurrencies, and I think they’re very good for a country like the United States,” he said.