Let’s get one thing out of the way – The United States already holds more bitcoin than any government in the world.

While this data is true, you wouldn’t exactly know this from the obscene amounts of FOMO being generated by industry lobbyists on social media.

On X, BTC Inc CEO David Bailey, has been pushing for an Executive Order by President Donald Trump that would put this in place on day one, while Satoshi Action Fund founder Dennis Porter has been stoking state-level enthusiasm, pledging to get states active in purchasing before the federal government as some act of patriotic frontrunning.

Look, I’m into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Yes, the United States needs a long-term plan for the dollar, one that finds it (in all likelihood) giving up its status as a global reserve currency. 

Yes, the U.S. should be actively boosting the Bitcoin market and industry. But, this sky-is-falling approach just couldn’t be more at odds with all reason.

There are no other governments buying Bitcoin, nor with any (public) plans to. The next largest state holder of Bitcoin is apparently China, which has formally banned its use.

Of the countries that are actively buying Bitcoin with intent – Bhutan has just over 10,000 BTC, while El Salvador is stuck around 6,000 BTC. Neither are going to purchase more Bitcoin than the U.S. government already has – nor does either have a widely popular money printer.

Full stop – even if the U.S. government didn’t buy Bitcoin for a decade, its stockpile would be sizable. Sure, you may argue that it’s about sending a message, about showing leadership in the world, but there are many ways this can be done without blowing political capital.

Is a Strategic Reserve more important than regulation that will actually ease barriers to our industry? That will empower businesses to actually grow the sovereign use of the currency?

Let’s not forget the horrible taxation laws that make bitcoin holders think twice before using bitcoin for purchases..

All this is to say, Strategic Bitcoin Reserve advocates shouldn’t overplay their hand – a lot can be gained just by getting the U.S. government to stop selling the Bitcoin it already has, and there are arguably bigger gains to be had, or at least much worse laws to erase.

Would it be great if the U.S. government started buying Bitcoin? Surely. The industry has political capital to cash in, but let’s use it to spread Bitcoin adoption, not just pump our bags.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

I, like many of you, am processing the results of the recent U.S. election in which Donald Trump won handily both the electoral college and popular vote. As pundits discuss, left mainstream media personalities mourn, and yes many Trump supporters cheer ecstatically, as a progressive Bitcoiner it’s entirely clear to me: If the Democratic Party wants a future in America, it must embrace Bitcoin.

Let me explain what I mean. Not only do I think is it imperative for the party to embrace Bitcoin if it wants to survive, but after this decisive Trump victory, I think many within the party, and those independent voters who dip in and out of voting for democratic candidates, are looking to make a drastic change and go back to the drawing board.

Bernie is back, and he has something to say. 

It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.

While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.

And they’re right. pic.twitter.com/lM2gSJmQFL

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 6, 2024

Now that Biden’s term is coming to a close, and Harris conceded the race in defeat, Bernie isn’t mincing words with his criticism of the democratic party and priorities. “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.” Many within the party, and former Bernie supporters who perhaps are not in the party or supportive any longer, have been beating this drum for a while: Democrats favor coastal elites, who opine about progressive politics and “wokism” intellectually, while paying lip-service (and patronizing various other minority groups) to working class americans. After losing to Donald Trump twice, many democrats, progressives, and certainly independent and democratic american voters are wondering, where do we go from here?

Trump is a tour de force. A charismatic figure that has truly altered the course of American politics in ways the GOP, strategists, journalists, and the political establishment never thought was possible. The democratic party has been struggling to come up with answers against Trump and MAGA populism after 2016. While mainstream media may continue to cast his victories as the product of racism, sexism, or other beliefs steeped in identity politics, the same they did in 2016, many within the party are accepting that the strategies around identity politics, anti-Trump, and some moral high ground are decisively ineffective.

While we all will be analyzing data, voter profiles, trends, etc over the next several months, many journalists, including some quite influential progressive leaning media outlets including Pod Save America, Breaking Points, and beyond conceded that the Democratic Party must return to being the party of working people and focus on the economy and inflation, which was one of the most important issues for voters at the polls this year. The Democratic party period from 2016-present has focused heavily on identity politics, what many deem as “wokism” and more, which I wouldn’t discredit out right. Much of this is important. But, the weight and prioritization of these issues over economic and other hardships Americans face has been the issue. Many democrats and progressive knew this, but now we have data and election results to prove that it is not a winning strategy for the party, particularly in the presidential election.

Being a progressive and Bitcoiner is quite a unique position to be in, and it’s helped me analyze the world and predict certain trends and outcomes in interesting ways that often times bitcoiners, or progressives outside of the bitcoin bubble, miss. In fact, I’m not alone. Many of the outspoken progressives and left-leaning folks in the bitcoin space were former Bernie bros, inspired by Occupy Wall Street and other populist economic messages around wealth inequality, corporate capture in America, Big Bank bailouts and the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Many of us have been turned off by the party’s pivot away from these battles, even to the point where Senator Elizabeth Warren has been working with and funded heavily by Big Banks, not to mention her and many others extreme hostile takes against the revolutionary technology born in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis: Bitcoin.

Here’s my take: Not only must the Democrats embrace Bitcoin to have a political future in America–I think many current and former members would be much more open to it. Rep. Ro Khanna is one leading example of a progressive democrat who understands where the Democratic Party has been losing ground to the Republicans on economic issues and Bitcoin. At the Bitcoin conference in Nashville this past summer, Rep Khanna stated, “Being against Bitcoin is like being against cell phones or the laptop, or semi conductors, it’s a technology.” Bitcoin is for freedom.”

Bitcoin advocates and campaign funding played a huge part in this year’s presidential election. While most democrats and the Harris campaign chose to mainly ignore Bitcoin and the industry, with some neutral or vague support of technology mentioned here and there, after a hostile four years under the Biden administration, this appears to be an error they couldn’t afford to make. Many progressives and democrats may continue to speak out against the industry and the campaign financing and superpacs that brought in Big Crypto Money (which campaign financing and then bitcoin the technology are two different things), but it’s an issue that can no longer be ignored, and almost weekly seems to be growing more and more bi-partisan (including ownership of Bitcoin in America, shown to be exceptionally broad and diverse across the political spectrum from a recent survey conducted by Colin Brown, Troy Cross, and Andrew Perkins).

Donald Trump and the GOP have used and garnered the single issue crypto voters in big ways. Campaign promises include protecting the right to self-custody, a U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, to support the crypto and bitcoin mining industries, Free Ross, and more. We’ll see if he makes good on these promises, and it’s unclear how big of an impact Trump’s pro-crypto positions had on the election outcome, but it’s not negligible. And if anything, it also symbolized what we saw was very important for American voters– a big shift from the current administration, and big promises regarding the economy and economic prosperity for America.

As the Democrats head back to the drawing board to determine the future of the party and their priorities, many are ready to go big, unburdened by what has been (sorry, had to) with the Hilary, Biden, Harris neo-liberal coalitions. And there’s one good place to start–the economy, stupid! Affordability, inflation, and hope in a brighter economic future for middle class and working families are winning priorities and what Americans at the end of the day show up in huge numbers to vote for. Bitcoin has a significant role to play in this approach and messaging, as an inflation hedge, incredible savings technology for working families, censorship resistant payments (should progressive activists find themselves in positions to need resistance money against Donald Trump’s authoritarian policies), and beyond. If the Democrats are serious about getting back to some of their roots as the party of working class people, including an olive branch to former independent and Bernie supports who are passionate about fighting for financial freedom and a better living for working class Americans, Occupy, and beyond, they will find Bitcoin is an incredible tool to that end. With Bitcoin there is no barrier to ownership, no middleman, not broker or bank you must use or be “accredited” by

Permissionless, freedom money. Can this be a rallying cry for the next chapter in the progressive movement and for Democrats to utilize on the campaign trail? It almost seems inevitable…a when, not an if…that the Democratic party capitulates to Bitcoin and the American people’s demands, or face extinction. Myself, Margot Paez, and others from The Progressive Bitcoiner will certainly be here to advocate for a rebirthing of the progressive movement, powered by Bitcoin. 

This is a guest post by Trey Walsh. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

I joined over millions of live viewers online in watching the Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden last night, and as someone who attended the Republican National Convention over the summer, I was blown away by how massive this event was. There were over 20k people inside the venue and tens of thousands more outside it. A week before the election, it feels like the entire country is behind him.

For the last couple of months, I had been pretty pessimistic about Trump winning the election due to my concerns about the Democrats’ plans to cheat the election. But as an American who is trying to keep his expectations leveled, it really does feel like there has been a huge shift to the Republicans advantage in this election. It feels like at least 80% of the country is now behind Trump, and I’m seeing a never ending stream of liberals and Democrats jumping ship from the Kamala Harris bandwagon.

I’m keeping a very close eye on early voter registration data coming in and most of what I’m seeing are people voting for the Republicans. Even in swing states like Pennsylvania, voters are turning out hard for Trump.

The sentiment is becoming more and more pro-Trump, and you can tell by the numbers too. Harris’ big interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast came out three weeks ago, and has only managed to get over 700k views on YouTube. In contrast, Trump’s interview on Joe Rogan was released only 3 days ago and has almost 34 million views. Trump’s overall viewership online, the bigger and more authentic rallies, and optimistic support from everyday people is indicative of having far more support than his opponent. Even potentially in some blue states like New York, where the rally was last night. I don’t think Kamala could get that much support and attendees in a deep blue state if she tried.

We’re only a week out from the election now, and if things keep going the way they’re going, pro-Bitcoin Donald Trump is going to win the election. If his promises are kept, then Ross Ulbricht will be a free man. Bitcoin will have a very regulatory friendly environment to have growth and innovation thrive in. The United States will establish a strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Gary Gensler will be fired. And the price of BTC will probably skyrocket into the six figures.

But none of this will become reality unless people turn out en masse to vote for Trump. Like Elon Musk said last night, we need to make the margins of victory so big that the election cannot be stolen by the Democrat’s cheating. Bitcoiners need to get out and vote, especially if you live in a swing or blue state!

It’s going to be a wild Tuesday next week, so Bitcoin Magazine is teaming up with Stand With Crypto to provide real time election coverage on November 5th. If you’re a Bitcoiner who wants to witness this election from the viewpoint of other Bitcoiners, make sure to tune into the stream. More details on the livestream and where to watch here.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.