In Nashville, Bitcoiners and American politics collide

Former President Donald Trump’s keynote address at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville over the weekend wasn’t a campaign rally, organizers said, but judging by the line to take photos with his cardboard cutout, attendees begged to differ.

Twenty thousand ticket holders and an additional 15,000 onlookers flocked to Nashville last week for the Bitcoin 2024 conference, organizers claim.

Other politicians, some more embraced by the bitcoin community than others, had their time on the main stage as well: Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., plus Democrat Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina.

Current and former presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy also made the rounds.

Paraphernalia declaring “Make America Great Again’” — and the arguably more popular “Make Bitcoin Great Again” — was a dime a dozen inside Music City Center. So was swag depicting Ross Ulbricht, who is currently serving a double life sentence for creating and operating the darknet site Silk Road.

I made eye contact with a woman wearing a “Free Ross. Vote Trump.” T-shirt in the mirror of the ladies’ room ahead of Trump’s keynote on Saturday.

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“Couldn’t he have pardoned Ross when he was president?” I asked, glancing at her shirt.

She glanced at the press badge hanging from my neck. “No. Too political.” She was already walking away before I could follow up.

Ulbricht, convicted in 2015 on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, may now just be political enough. Trump in May pledged to commute Ulbricht’s sentence, along with a slew of other pardons he plans to make should he win in November. He repeated the promise again during his keynote address on Saturday, adding that he stood with any bitcoiners who have had their assets unjustly seized.

“As you know, most of the bitcoin currently held by the United States government was obtained through law enforcement action,” Trump said. “You know that they took it from you. Let’s take that guy’s life. Let’s take his family. His house. His bitcoin.”

The crowd cheered.

Ulbricht was a major theme of the weekend. A booth frequently manned by Ulbricht’s mother, Lyn, passed out free T-shirts. Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey has said that Vice President Kamala Harris should vow to commute Ulbricht’s sentence before engaging with the bitcoin community.

The crowd throughout the weekend skewed young, with many minors tagging (or being dragged) along with their parents.

A baby, just 14 weeks old, sat in the front row during Trump’s speech, donning a MAGA onesie and headphones. The outing was made difficult by the venue’s no-bag policy, the mother told me, which extended to strollers. But she had no regrets.

Another attendee told me he opted to leave his two-and-a-half-year-old at home, saying the security and crowd were “too much,” although his child has already been to 16 conferences.

Several young blond children ran around the Nashville Municipal Auditorium on Thursday night where conference attendees gathered for a karate combat fight. I was told they were Kennedy’s grandchildren. The independent presidential candidate was inside, posing for selfies and commentating on the action in the ring.

Despite bitcoin’s relatively quiet price action in recent weeks, the mood was, generally speaking, positive. Most side events featured passed hors d’oeuvres and buffets — companies shelling out is a true bull market signal.

As one man made his way over to a saved seat toward the front of the room for Trump’s speech, I overheard him bragging to his friends. A woman the night before had agreed to leave the bar with him “without even seeing the Lambo.”

After all, what would a bitcoin conference be without the mention of a Lamborghini?

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