KEY POINTS
- Burnett expects campaign teams to study Bitcoin and the people supporting the digital coin
- Politicians will soon realize that they have to 'embrace' BTC or lose, he said
- Trump is one of several politicians who have signaled a softer stance on the crypto industry
With U.S. elections in less than six months, the small but "powerful" Bitcoin community will soon become a voting group that politicians will have their eyes glued to, a cryptocurrency expert predicted.
For Joe Burnett, senior product marketing manager at BTC native financial services firm Unchained Capital, politicians will soon realize how important the community using Bitcoin is to their campaigns.
He said in a video on X (formerly Twitter) that he is expecting campaigning teams of American politicians to study the voting public's activity around Bitcoin. First, they will research how Bitcoin works, but "most importantly, who supports Bitcoin and who doesn't."
Bitcoin holders are becoming a powerful, intolerant minority.#Bitcoin is going to rapidly become a hot political talking point—and future elections will hinge on a candidate's stance on bitcoin.
— Joe Burnett (🔑)³ (@IIICapital) May 9, 2024
Politicians will soon learn this one simple fact: Embrace bitcoin or lose. pic.twitter.com/KEQkzf8UVb
He went on to explain that BTC owners are a "new growing intolerant minority" that just could be "a politician's dream population segment," given how the said group will "immediately" vote for a politician who welcomes or embraces the world's largest digital asset by market value. "Politicians will soon learn this one simple fact: embrace Bitcoin or lose," Burnett concluded.
Burnett's view of how the Bitcoin community can affect the political landscape may be related to the recent signals from some of the most prominent figures in politics, who have signaled a softening stance toward Bitcoin and the broader digital assets sector.
For instance, former President Donald Trump told NFT investors whom he hosted at his Mar-a-Lago estate Wednesday that he was now "fine" with cryptocurrencies, and he would "stop" the hostility that regulators have shown toward crypto in recent years. It is worth noting that the business mogul was a former critic of Bitcoin and digital currencies.
Another Republican, John Deaton, is looking to unseat crypto critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. He is known for his work in standing alongside holders of XRP, the native token of the Ripple network, amid the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) lawsuit against the crypto giant.
The crypto community also found a friend in Bernie Moreno, who is looking to challenge the Democratic Party's Sen. Sherrod Brown – another crypto critic – in November. Moreno was endorsed by Trump in December, and the digital assets sector celebrated his Ohio primary win earlier this year. "Ohio is THE key statewide race to ensure the future of crypto in the U.S.," one crypto enthusiast said.
The true impact of the Bitcoin and crypto community on the elections has yet to be seen. However, it appears that some politicians are already recognizing the importance of the emerging voting group in securing wins during the elections later this year.
