Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, issued a warning on Wednesday against choosing a candidate purely based on whether they claim to be “pro-crypto.” In a blog post, Buterin said it’s more important to scrutinize a candidate’s broader policies to ensure they support cryptocurrency’s underlying goals, including internationalism and protection for private communications.
“If a politician is pro-crypto, the key question to ask is: Are they in it for the right reasons?,” wrote Buterin. “Do they have a vision of how technology and politics and the economy should go in the 21st century that aligns with yours?”
Though Buterin does not mention any politicians or crypto investors by name, his comments come just one day after Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz threw their support behind former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential election. The founders of Andreessen Horowitz noted on their podcast yesterday that Trump’s crypto regulation plan is “a flat-out blanket endorsement of the entire space.” The influential venture capitalists join the ranks of other notable Silicon Valley players, including Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump in the last week.
Further, Ethereum’s co-founder made the case that signaling you broadly support any “pro-crypto” candidates could incentivize politicians to promote the cause in bad faith. Buterin notes that authoritarian leaders, particularly in Russia, have claimed to support crypto in an effort to consolidate power.
“It doesn’t matter if they also support banning encrypted messaging, if they are a power-seeking narcissist, or if they push for bills that make it even harder for your Chinese or Indian friend to attend the next crypto conference — all that politicians have to do is make sure it’s easy for you to trade coins,” said Buterin.
The co-founder of Ethereum suggested to look into a “crypto-friendly” politician’s views on crypto five years ago. He says this can serve as a guide for whether the politician may reverse their position five years in the future.
Notably, former President Trump starkly opposed decentralized tokens five years ago. In a tweet from July 2019, Trump said he’s “not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money.” In a follow-up tweet, he said “we have only one real currency in the USA,” referring to the United States dollar.
But in May, Trump completed a total flip-flop on his stance regarding cryptocurrencies, becoming the first major presidential candidate to accept bitcoin donations. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s crypto fundraising efforts have collected $3 million worth of donations in the second quarter.
