There's nothing surprising about a presidential nominee addressing a party convention ahead of an election—unless, that is, the party is not the one they're leading. That's why it was curious to read of former President Donald Trump, the current head of the GOP ticket, addressing the Libertarian party convention on Saturday.
Trump did not exactly win over the crowd, which booed him repeatedly. Still, the appearance was a shrewd political move since, as Trump himself noted, the Libertarian party regularly pulls in 3% on Election Day, and winning over even a few of those voters could make the difference. Trump also used the event to tout his recent conversion to crypto, telling the crowd he would "keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your Bitcoin" and promising to commute the sentence of drug kingpin Ross Ulbricht (a.k.a. Dread Pirate Roberts) on his first day in office.
These remarks reportedly elicited loud cheers, which is not surprising given that libertarians have supported crypto since day one. This includes the Free State crowd that helped make New Hampshire an early hotbed of Bitcoin, and Erik Voorhees, the radical libertarian who built the influential OG crypto projects Satoshi Dice and ShapeShift.
The libertarian view—as best as I can make it out—is that the government has no business in any part of our lives, aside from national defense, and that society should be organized entirely around private contracts and the free market. It's a compelling idea. After all, many of us would like to live our lives with less meddling from government-backed factions of the progressive left and the religious right. Alas, the libertarian vision also feels unworkable in this day and age. Do we really want to leave things like highways, schools, policing, and pollution entirely to the market? Ditto with crypto.
It's neat in theory to imagine a world where anyone can mint and circulate their own currency. But the reality is the government has a legitimate interest in preserving the supremacy of the U.S. dollar. History teaches us it rarely ends well when a country's leaders can no longer control its money supply. In this context, Trump's recent words should be viewed as simple political pandering rather than a decision to go full-metal libertarian on crypto or anything else.
I look forward to hearing about more of this at Consensus in Austin, where I'll be interviewing Tom Farley, former NYSE president and current Bullish CEO. The annual crypto confab will also feature a keynote speech from Voorhees, and a political debate between Trump convert Ryan Selkis and Uniswap's top lawyer—and staunch Democrat—Marvin Ammori. If you're on the ground, come say hello.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
