Trump received $2 Million in Bitcoin donations from Winklevoss Twins
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, on Thursday, declared their donation of $2 million in Bitcoin towards the support of Donald Trump's presidential bid, as he stands as the likely Republican candidate.
The duo, renowned for their role in establishing the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and their early involvement in the creation of Facebook, contributed a combined sum of 30.94 BTC (equivalently 15.47 BTC each). In conjunction, Gemini disclosed on the same day that its users could now forward cryptocurrency contributions to candidates favoring crypto policies.
Tyler criticized the current Biden Administration for utilizing the federal government and banking sector to target the crypto industry, a strategy initiated during Operation Choke Point under the Obama Administration, where Biden served as Vice President, labeling it as a "crypto warfare."
He stated that the conduct of this Administration amounts to an abuse of power, unprecedented in scale, motivated by political manipulation, detrimentally impacting innovation, the American taxpayer, and the economy and nothing the Biden Administration proposes can alter this reality.
Due to the donation limits for candidates and political entities, which are significantly lower than the announced donation amounts, the exact destination of the funds remains speculative. It is presumed the contributions were made to Political Action Committees (PACs) backing Trump, which have no such financial restrictions but must maintain independence from the campaign efforts of the candidates.
In May, following independent presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s example, Trump opened his campaign to accept donations in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies after a gathering at his Mar-a-Lago estate attended by Trump NFT holders.
In the same period, analysts from the UK's Standard Chartered projected that a Trump victory in November might positively impact Bitcoin. He has since echoed this sentiment, advocating for cryptocurrency support within the United States and a conducive environment for the Bitcoin mining sector.
However, Trump's stance appears to have shifted from previous years. While serving as president in 2019, he described the basis of cryptocurrencies as "thin air" in a tweet. In 2021, post-presidency, he described Bitcoin as seeming "like a scam" during an interview.
