Blast Biden, Crypto Tycoons Winklevoss Brothers Join Trump Camp

Written by: 0xjs@黄金财经

On June 21, 2024, Gemini co-founders Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss donated $1 million in Bitcoin (15.47 BTC) to the Trump campaign team and publicly stated that they would vote for Trump in the US election in November.

Tyler Winklevoss also sent a long article denouncing the Biden administration's encryption policy and why he supports Trump.

Cameron Winklevoss and I just each donated $1 million in Bitcoin (15.47 BTC) to Donald Trump and will be voting for him in November.

Here’s why:

For the past few years, the Biden Administration has openly declared war on cryptocurrency. It has weaponized multiple government agencies to bully, harass, and prosecute talented players in our industry in an attempt to destroy it. This administration’s actions are nothing short of an unprecedented abuse of power, entirely for twisted political gain, and entirely at the expense of innovation, American taxpayers, and the American economy. There is nothing the Biden Administration can do or say right now to pretend otherwise.

Some of the dark spots of the Biden Administration include:

Weaponizing the banking system against cryptocurrency companies and their leaders

This is colloquially known as “Operation Chokehold 2.0.” Behind the scenes, the OCC (the federal agency responsible for licensing and regulating the nation’s banks) and the FDIC (the federal agency that provides deposit insurance to banks) provide “guidance” and instruct banks not to bank cryptocurrency companies. Any bank that doesn’t follow orders is threatened.

The conversation goes something like this: “You have a great bank. It would be a shame if something happened to you guys because you banked some cryptocurrency companies.” If that tactic isn’t enough to scare a bank, then examiners are sent in to turn everything upside down. This will almost certainly result in some “findings”—show me this bank and I’ll tell you its crimes—leading to huge fines or new regulatory rules and conditions that cripple the bank’s ability to operate. The risks are simply too great. Banks can choose not to bank cryptocurrency companies, or they can let the banks make that choice for them.

These agencies have a God Mode over banks, as they can revoke a bank’s charter or FDIC deposit insurance at any time for “safety and soundness.” That’s why they can act like characters from The Godfather and intimidate banks into giving up any customer or customer base they want. This bankification of a perfectly legal but ideologically unpopular industry began during the Obama administration, when President Joe Biden was Vice President. At the time it was called Operation Chokehold 1.0, a well-documented stain on Obama’s presidency. The Biden administration has resurrected this strategy and is hitting the cryptocurrency industry full speed ahead.

The crackdown has expanded from cryptocurrency companies to individuals working in the cryptocurrency industry. I personally have lost multiple bank accountsbecause I own cryptocurrency, my investment firm Winklevoss Capital.

SEC Weaponization of Crypto

The Biden administration’s SEC has not yet established any rules for the crypto industry to help any participant understand how to navigate the regulatory environment of this new asset paradigm. This is by design.

By not creating any new rules for crypto, the SEC can disingenuously say that existing rules — based on a 1946 Supreme Court ruling about a citrus grove in Florida, issued 50 years before most homes had telephones and before the advent of the commercial internet — are fit for purpose. But they are not.

Take an example. If ETH were a security (which was an open question 48 hours ago), then if you sent ETH from your smartphone to a friend’s smartphone, you would be violating securities laws. Why? Because only a broker-dealer is allowed to transfer securities. And it can only transfer securities to another broker-dealer. From this example alone, anyone can understand how classifying a cryptocurrency like ETH as a security would diminish its utility and undermine its ability to unlock a decentralized future. It’s like asking a car to behave like a horse. Yet, this is the position the Biden SEC is taking on virtually every cryptocurrency. It is doing this not because it doesn’t understand the consequences, but because it does. And this is exactly the consequence it wants. To wipe out cryptocurrency.

By taking the absurd position that nearly every cryptocurrency is a security, the Biden SEC has given itself the legitimacy and carte blanche to bring lawsuits against any cryptocurrency project and company in the United States. The game is simple. Make compliance impossible, then prosecute everyone who doesn’t. This is exactly what the Biden SEC has repeatedly done to the good people in the space. The SEC will not write rules for cryptocurrencies—which can be done in a few days—and years from now, judges and juries will write rules that the SEC acted in bad faith and was wrong all along. The time and financial waste will be enormous. The damage will be done. But that’s the point.

The Biden administration has tainted the mission of these agencies and undermined their integrity. They are all led by unelected bureaucrats appointed by President Biden to do his bidding. These officials’ moral compass is political profit, and their higher mission is political power. Congress has never given them the legal authority to decide the fate of the crypto industry, or any other legitimate industry in the United States, and they are completely unqualified to serve as the gatekeepers of our country's economic life. That's what markets do.

And yet crypto isn't the only industry being treated this way

The Biden administration has been on a full-scale attack on corporate America and demonizing its greatest heroes. The crime is always success, and the reward is always ridicule, fines, and even more red tape. But to be clear, the Biden administration doesn't exactly hate success. They only hate success that is not under their control. Once they figure out how to seize or coerce those assets, the Biden administration will be enthusiastic about success and gleefully manipulate or redistribute them in obvious ways to buy votes. Over a long enough time frame, it's easy to see how these policies will lead to the destruction of our economy and our country.

Capitalism lifts people up. If it is allowed to develop properly, it is the greatest creator of wealth and prosperity the world has ever seen, and the only economic system that can achieve all of this peacefully while preserving the freedom and dignity of everyone involved. Under certain conditions — like anyone can form a company, open a bank account to accept payments from customers, and operate in open markets without government interference — innovation and wealth creation will flourish without limit. Remove any of those building blocks, and you get a completely different system with completely different outcomes. This is exactly what the Biden administration has done to the cryptocurrency industry and so many other industries in the United States. It has been dismantling our economic way of life and the system that makes America the greatest country in the world. And it’s doing it solely for its own power, control, and political ambitions.

Of all the experiments in capitalism, America is the greatest. I’ve seen and experienced this firsthand many times. Gemini, a crypto platform that Cameron and I founded in 2014, has grown from an idea on a napkin to a company that has employed thousands of employees and helped millions of customers acquire crypto over the past decade. I’ve had employees thank me in tears because their work at Gemini allowed them to buy a house for their family. I’ve had customers approach me on the street and thank me for founding Gemini because it helped them achieve financial freedom and start their own businesses. It’s experiences like these that give me the greatest joy and give meaning to everything we do at Gemini.

The Biden administration is trying to destroy all of this. I will not stand by and let them do this. I will continue to fight for what I believe is right. President Donald Trump is the pro-bitcoin, pro-crypto, and pro-business choice. That is not even worth debating. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either seriously misled, delusional, or not telling the truth. It is time to take back our country. It is time for the crypto army to send a message to Washington. Attacking us is political suicide.

This is why I will be voting for President Trump in November, and I hope you will do the same. Go ahead!