Donald Trump Vows to Free Ross Ulbricht, Oppose CBDCs, and Back Self Custody in Libertarian Convention Speech

27 May 2024

Mitchell Nixon

author_avatar

Former President and current Republican frontrunner Donald Trump encountered boos and jeers during his historic address to the Libertarian Party’s convention last night. This marked the first time a major party candidate has addressed a rival party’s convention.

“I think you should nominate me or at least vote for me and we should win together…What is the purpose of the Libertarian Party getting 3% [of the vote]?” Trump proclaimed early in his speech, met with a chorus of boos. His promise to appoint a Libertarian to a cabinet position and “Libertarians in senior posts” elicited a mixed response of cheers and jeers, much like his other policy proposals.

However, Trump gained significant approval from the audience when, about three-quarters into his 40-minute speech, he briefly addressed crypto policy. He vowed to support the cryptocurrency industry and promised to commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence “on day one,” a cause dear to many Libertarian Party members.

Trump’s commitment to commute Ulbricht’s sentence, a pledge not made by any other major Republican or Democratic candidate, sparked nearly 30 seconds of enthusiastic cheers of “Free Ross!” from the crowd, many holding signs with the same slogan. Ulbricht is serving a life sentence without parole for his involvement in creating and operating the Silk Road dark web marketplace, which played a key role in Bitcoin’s early history.

Trump’s comments on cryptocurrency primarily aimed to highlight his opposition to the current administration. Speaking from a teleprompter, Trump pledged to halt “Joe Biden’s crusade to crush crypto” by ensuring its future remains domestic, advocating for the right to self-custody, and opposing the creation of a CBDC. “To the nation’s fifty million crypto holders I say this: with your vote, I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your Bitcoin, Trump declared.

These brief remarks constituted the sole mentions of cryptocurrency in Trump’s speech, which was one of his shortest campaign addresses to date. Trump seems to be warming up to cryptocurrency in recent weeks; previously a sceptic of Bitcoin, his campaign now accepts crypto donations, and Trump endorsed the crypto industry on the social media platform Truth Social shortly before his address at the Libertarian Convention which we did an article on here.

What is abundantly clear – Donald is really making a strong push to secure support from the crypto community and win their vote, which impacts 20+ % of the nation.