Trump to speak at bitcoin conference: What to expect

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is jumping by nearly 5% — the price hovering over $67,000 — on Friday as crypto markets anticipate gains over the weekend as former President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are set to speak at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Yahoo Finance senior reporter David Hollerith joins Morning Brief to break down what to expect from Trump's speech and what it could indicate about his regulatory agenda for cryptocurrencies ahead of the 2024 election, as well as what the crypto community is thinking about Vice President Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential run.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video transcript

Crypto is surging.

Markets are anticipating more gains to come.

This weekend, price of Bitcoin is up, let's see, 5% to 67,273.

This is ahead of former president Donald Trump's speech at a Bitcoin convention in Nashville to tomorrow morning.

And Yahoo Finance's financial correspondent, David Hori joins us live from Nashville right now, Dave.

Uh I'm seeing a lot of excitement on X and other social media networks.

People are saying, all right, we got those Bitcoin highs all time highs in sights.

Now, what kind of excitement is there on the floor?

Hey, Jared, it's still early.

Um the programming today and goes through the day and the, and the, the big headliner is going to be RFK junior, the independent presidential candidate who's speaking at 4 p.m.

But easily the most anticipated speaker, um I've heard from conference goers so far is going to be Donald Trump who will be speaking on Saturday.

And Trump obviously has his uh more recently since the spring, we could say embraced Cryptocurrency and he's made it a part of his platform.

Um We've heard a lot about what the crypto industry doesn't like about the current administration regarding regulation.

We know a little bit less about what, what Trump um is willing to offer, um the crypto industry.

And there's a whole question of, of donations from the industry to his campaign.

And then in addition to that, um what uh a crypto vote is worth.

And, you know, in the meantime, we're waiting to hear from Trump to explain exactly what we can expect um is in store for crypto if he were to be elected.

Um There are rumors and rumblings of um some, some additions to Trump's uh wider economic policy that include crypto.

We really don't know what that is yet.

Um But of course, there's plenty of hype and this comes after um the ETF S uh Bitcoin and Ether earlier this week have had uh phenomenal inflows for exchange traded products.

And so this is sort of a next step, touch zone, touch, uh stone moment for the industry.

And that's going to be what we're going to be paying attention to the most uh what Trump says about uh Cryptocurrency more than anything.

Um whether or not he sort of gives it that badge of legitimacy that is so wanted for the community after, you know, years of uh being seen for um the scams that are inherent in the industry and also uh prior uses, David, there's lots of excitement, I think within the crypto community, maybe of what a Trump presidency could mean for the industry, I'm curious what you're hearing about Vice President, uh Kamala Harris right now and, and any sort of insight or rumblings that you've heard so far at the conference of how they're viewing a potential Harris presidency.

Yeah, Shana, she obviously um was asked to attend um and declined and that's coming from the conference organizer, David Bailey.

Um He tweeted that earlier this week.

Um It's worth pointing out too that um she has a fundraiser in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

So the idea of her coming in and speaking at the crypto conferences, not as simple as her, not liking the crypto community.

Um Largely everyone I've spoken with um has been open to hearing what uh Harris has to say about crypto.

She obviously um is quite busy uh stepping up her campaign this past week.

Um But I think people are still willing to give her time that being said, a lot of the policies that Trump is sort of talking about um lower tax cuts, uh more friendly regulatory environment.

It does seem less to be demo uh democratic leaning or democrat leaning, excuse me.

And so, you know, we'll definitely want to hear what she says.

Um But there is a minimum she can give that the industry doesn't have that I think would please them.

All right, David.

Always great stuff.

Thanks so much for your insight and good luck this weekend at the conference.

That's David Holler.

Thanks, David.