Former President Donald Trump hasn't always been crypto friendly, but he's been glad-handing industry power players who feel alienated by the current administration.

Why it matters: The likely GOP presidential nominee's courting of crypto promises an obstreperous 2024 campaign.

• This cohort is primed to sympathize with convicted felons (See: jailed software developers) and is well-versed in the art of amplifying noise (See: meme coins.)

Driving the news: Trump's name was on the lips of many executives at Coinbase's State of Crypto Summit in New York yesterday (see: 3️⃣).

• One from a boutique asset management firm who asked not to be named pointed out that Trump didn't have to do or say much to be "pro-crypto."

Case in point: Indeed he's getting plaudits for what he said on social media: "Bitcoin mining may be our last line of defense against a CBDC," but also, "We want all the remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!!"

• 👆 Those ideas conflict — the point of bitcoin is that it is not controlled.

Catch up quick: Earlier this week, at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trump met with the "Power 30" — miners who altogether account for 30% of the Bitcoin network — to talk about what he could do for them.

Behind the scenes: Marathon Digital, one of the largest publicly traded bitcoin miners, was there, per Jayson Browder, the firm's SVP of government affairs.

• Executives from Riot Platforms, Terawulf, CleanSpark, Core Scientific, Arkon Energy, Cholla Energy and Exacore were reportedly there too.
• Browder described Trump as prepared and informed — his talking points centered around what the industry has cast as unfair treatment from the Biden administration.

Between the lines: "I know what they've been doing to you guys," is the gist of what Trump was trying to convey, according to Browder.

• Trump brought up the U.S. Department of Energy's attempt to mandate energy surveys on crypto miners, and how crypto prevailed over the Biden administration when one company sued and won. (The EIA has since decided to temporarily suspend it.)
• He talked about the 30% excise tax the Biden administration proposed for bitcoin miners.
• All this fits into a broader effort by both leading presidential candidates to court business leaders.

The bottom line: Threatening to take crypto business offshore was so last year; now the "or else" the industry wields is Trump.

"I had hoped immigration reform and border security would be something we could do this Congress. That would be a big deal. But this could be the one big thing that will get done."

All the suits were at Coinbase x FT's State of Crypto Summit in New York yesterday.

• Issuers behind the spot bitcoin ETFs including BlackRock, as well as bank executives, venture capitalists, analysts, startup founders and the reporters who cover them, were in attendance.

Zoom in: ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood, whose firm invests in tech companies like crypto exchange Coinbase, chatted with Brian Armstrong 👆 in a breezy, yet snooze-y conversation about the promise of crypto.

• One piece of news: Armstrong said he's spoken with a dozen senators in the last few days, with various pieces of crypto legislation being drafted on the Hill.
• "Crypto is finally getting organized politically," Armstrong said, and Wood attributed much of that to the crypto exchange's efforts.
• "Thank you, Coinbase for bringing us all along and leading the effort in Washington," she said.
• When Trump came up, Armstrong focused on the importance of crypto becoming part of the conversation. "It's going to be actually one of the top issues in this election. So crypto's arrived."

💭 Crystal's thought bubble: It is bananas that the pair of influential leaders in tech couldn't muster more energy on stage.

• What Coinbase got right though... was getting people through the door with their new smart wallet.

Zoom in: They sent me an email with a link, I clicked on it and OK'd downloading the app, which set up automatically via biometric verification.

• That meant I could breeze through the front door, spend mere seconds verifying who I was with registration staff and enter — this was a dramatically improved experience with NFT-ticketed events.

The bottom line: That's the kind of crypto wallet experience to tout at an event with a captive TradFi audience.

New York Attorney General Letitia James today said the state recovered $50 million in a settlement agreement with crypto exchange Gemini that will be returned to Gemini Earn customers involved in a multi-firm bankruptcy proceeding.

The intrigue: Gemini said it would cooperate in the NYAG's $3 billion fraud case against its former partners Digital Currency Group, DCG's founder and chief Barry Silbert, and former chief of the now defunct Genesis, Soichiro "Michael" Moro, as part of the agreement.

Catch up quick: New York sued Gemini in October for allegedly lying to investors about its Gemini Earn product, which involved former partners DCG and its lender subsidiary, Genesis.

• Earn customers' previously frozen funds are being returned, but the long-simmering beef between Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and DCG's Silbert is hardly over.

The NYAG lawsuit, which was amended in February, alleges the group defrauded investors of more than $3 billion. It cites internal documents at Gemini in arguing that the exchange knew that Genesis Capital posed "high risk."

• Not to mention Cameron Winklevoss regularly penned angry missives against the company's former partners and went after Silbert directly — calling for his removal from DCG as chief.

As part of the settlement, Gemini is banned from operating any crypto lending program in the state.

The bottom line: "Today's settlement will make defrauded investors whole and should remind cryptocurrency companies that deceiving investors is illegal and will not be tolerated by my office," James said in a press statement.

👀 Nigeria dropped tax charges against two Binance executives but is still pursuing the money-laundering case against the crypto exchange. (CoinDesk)

💰 Paradigm raised $850 million to invest in early-stage crypto. (Bloomberg)

🚥 SEC chair Gensler said ether ETFs are moving through the staff process, which should be done this summer. (Axios)

🪫 The CEO of Texas electric grid operator ERCOT said in state Senate testimony that its capacity will need to be much bigger to handle all the crypto mining and AI. (NBC-Dallas-Fort Worth)

🧑‍⚖️ A judge signed off on the SEC settlement with Terraform Labs we covered earlier this week. (CoinDesk)

🏦 BONUS: Former House speaker Paul Ryan on how stablecoins could help stave off a U.S. debt crisis. (The Wall Street Journal)