Author: Shelly, Nianqing, ChainCatcher

Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey today confirmed that Vice President Harris will not speak at the BTC 2024 conference. Despite Harris's absence, this year's BTC conference is not lacking in the presence of American politicians. The conference has invited 10 American political guests, including Trump, of which 8 are Republicans, only one is a Democrat, and one is an independent (former Democrat).

Of course, it is not surprising. On the one hand, the host Nashville in Tennessee is traditionally a 'red state', the stronghold of the Republican Party, and both senators from Tennessee will attend. On the other hand, compared to the conservatism of the Democratic Party, the majority of Republicans hold an optimistic attitude towards Crypto, with a recent survey by Paradigm showing that 28% of Republicans hold or have purchased Cryptocurrency, exceeding the national average, and 60% of Republicans tend to have Congress explicitly regulate encryption. A more intuitive data point is that in May of this year, the Republican-dominated FIT21 bill was passed and promoted. The following figure intuitively reflects the voting results of the two parties and their attitudes towards the regulation of digital assets. Recently, the Republican National Convention also approved a new agenda proposed by Trump for the Republican Party, one of which is to support innovative encryption policies.

Voting on the FIT21 bill by the two parties, source: Bitwise

Let's go back and talk about the politicians who participated in the BTC conference and their promotion of encryption.

• Donald Trump: 2024 US presidential election candidate, former 45th President of the United States, Republican, self-proclaimed as the "Crypto President", and his involvement in the encryption field can be read in our previous article "Selling Trump: Former President's encryption Business Circle and "Business Book""
• Vivek Ganapathy, a Republican candidate who ran for the 2024 US presidential election, announced during his campaign that he would accept BTC as campaign donations. On January 15, 2024, he announced his withdrawal from the presidential primary.
• Bill Hagerty is a Republican Senator from Tennessee. He criticized the Democratic Party for being too centralized and restrictive in its approach to the encryption industry.
• Marsha Blackburn is a senator from Tennessee, a Republican. She announced in this year's re-election campaign that she accepts Cryptocurrency donations and appreciates the freedom and privacy of BTC.
• Cynthia Lummis is a senator and federal representative from Wyoming, a Republican, a BTC supporter, and has been pushing for BTC-related legislation. She has stated that BTC and cryptocurrency will become an important part of the future economy. She also plans to announce BTC strategic reserve legislation at the BTC conference.
• Tim Scott is a senator from South Carolina, a Republican, and a member of the U.S. Senate's Financial Innovation Core Group. He has repeatedly called for a balanced approach to digital assets and advocated for the development of a Cryptocurrency regulatory framework.
• Bernardo Moreno is a Republican Senate candidate, a Republican, and a blockchain entrepreneur and Cryptocurrency enthusiast.
• Sam Brown is a Republican candidate for the US Senate, a Republican, an early adopter of Cryptocurrency, and invested in BTC in 2017.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an independent candidate for the President of the United States. He was a Democrat before 2023 and currently belongs to other independent parties. He has purchased 14 BTC and has repeatedly expressed support for blockchain, BTC, and cryptocurrency, such as hoping to allocate the entire U.S. budget on-chain, and promising to release the founder of the Silk Road platform if elected president.
• Ro Khanna is the only Democrat attending the conference, serving as a U.S. congressman since 2017. The progressive Democrat represents a district, including Silicon Valley, which has a friendly attitude towards Cryptocurrency. The highly-followed Cryptocurrency policy roundtable this month was hosted by Ro Khanna, who has been in contact with senior executives in the digital asset industry, Democratic lawmakers, and White House officials.

P.S. Although encryption has become a battleground for voters of both parties and favorable information for the development of the entire industry, in the long run, cooperation between the two parties is needed in order to promote the development and regulation of the encryption industry, which is healthier for the entire ecosystem.