Trump's promises to bitcoin conference: "fire" SEC chair, build "strategic bitcoin stockpile"

Between the lines: The federal government has almost 210,000 bitcoin, or 1% of the total supply that will ever exist, Trump noted to the crowd.

• Most of that was obtained through law enforcement action, seized from cybercriminals and darknet markets.
• "If I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires," Trump said Saturday. "For too long, our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart, never sell your bitcoin."

Earlier in his speech, Trump touched another guaranteed crowdpleaser at the annual gathering of bitcoiners: moving on from SEC chair Gary Gensler.

• "On day one I will fire Gary Gensler," and — when it got huge applause — he said it again, to even larger applause.

Zoom in: Gensler, nominated by President Joe Biden, has led an SEC since 2021 widely seen as hostile to the crypto industry — largely due to its history of regulating by enforcement, and resistance to creating rules specific to digital assets.

• "America's laws are too unclear, and too tough, and too angry and too stiff," Trump told the crowd Saturday.
• Lack of clarity in regulation, the industry argues, has stifled innovation and growth in the sector.

Reality check: If Trump were to become president, Gensler would have more than a year left in his term as SEC commissioner.

Zoom out: Trump is the first presidential candidate from a major party to make Bitcoin and cryptocurrency a campaign issue.