He stands on stage at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville and says how much he likes crypto people. Announces a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He promises to free Ross Ulbricht. He delivers burgers at PubKeyin New York. He even forms his own DeFi project, Global financial freedomcomplete with an internal governance model (what better way to signal one’s allegiance to cryptocurrencies than that?)

Trump says and does all the things cryptocurrencies want to hear and attracts millions in donations as a result. The loudmouths fight for it, cultural warriors with performative hate. It occupies political space that the Biden administration and Harris campaign could have occupied if they weren’t so cowardly about the Warren wing. he says all the right thingsbecause Trump is the master of saying what people want him to say. It fits perfectly with the goals of cryptocurrencies, because their policy adapts to any situation and cryptocurrencies were desperate for a friend.

I confess that all of this makes me personally uncomfortable, not because I have great love for Kamala Harris, but because Trump has a long history of being a friend in good times. You could easily take a completely opposite view of cryptocurrencies, if it suits you, and he has. I am concerned about Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrencies because I find it difficult to believe that Trump shares the principles that attracted me to cryptocurrencies.