Crypto voters won’t swing the election, but crypto donors might

Dateline: Singapore, 4th November 2024.I do not feel particularly well-qualified to comment on American politics, and I certainly do not want to make any political points, but I cannot help but be interested in the relationship between politics and fintech in general, and cryptocurrency in particular on election day. While presidential candidate Kamala Harris has been relatively quiet on the topic, one of the proposals that former president Trump has put forward is some kind of strategic bitcoin reserve. Will this swing US voters in the election tomorrow?ShareStashes And ReservesFirst of all, I must say that I am reluctant to label a government’s bitcoin holdings as a “reserve” at all. A reserve is a store of something that has utility, such as oil, but bitcoin has no utility beyond speculation. You cannot really do anything with it. Unlike cheese. The US government’s one billion plus pounds cheese reserve can, for example, be given out to welfare recipients to have on toast.(While you may have never heard of government cheese, and I certainly had not before I heard about in on a podcast, it features in popular culture. Jay Z sings “After that government cheese, we eating steak” and Kendrick Lamar sings about eating “cheese from the government”.)My view is therefore that bitcoin holdings are not a reserve but might more properly be labelled as a stash, and it is fair to observe that economists consider a bitcoin stash of dubious value to taxpayers beyond pumping bitcoin to the great benefit of the crypto “whales” who…Crypto voters won’t swing the election, but crypto donors might