Source: The New York Times

Compiled and edited by: BitpushNews

Just over a year ago, in a swanky conference room at Mar-a-Lago, David Bailey and a group of Bitcoin executives pitched Bitcoin to Donald J. Trump.

They are looking for a "savior".

Cryptocurrency companies have endured a tough crackdown in Washington for years — a series of lawsuits, regulatory attacks and prosecutions that threaten the industry’s survival. Mr. Trump, who at one point dismissed Bitcoin as a “scam,” is not an obvious sympathizer. Yet he welcomed the executives to his private club in Florida because the industry had suddenly caught his attention. Bailey was mobilizing crypto investors to vote for Trump and called on his colleagues to raise $100 million for the election.

At Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Bailey brought with him representatives from several large Bitcoin mining companies — an energy-hungry industry that has drawn noise complaints and environmental concerns.

They pitched Mr. Trump on the economic benefits of bitcoin, then made a bold request: Could Mr. Trump post a supportive post on his social media sites?

The proposed language was listed at the bottom of a bulleted agenda, according to a copy of the meeting reviewed by The New York Times. Mr. Bailey, who runs the digital currency company BTC Inc., recalled in an interview that Mr. Trump said he would “consider it,” and “we had no idea if it was going to happen.”

That evening, Trump posted a post on Truth Social with the exact same message the executives had proposed: “We want all remaining Bitcoin to be made in the USA!!! This will help us achieve Energy Dominance!!!”

The post was one of the first successes in a high-stakes crypto lobbying campaign that has paid off big for Trump.

Since Trump’s election, the price of Bitcoin has surged to more than $100,000, enriching executives who supported his campaign. Crypto advocates who were ostracized by Washington during the Biden administration now have surprisingly close access to the Trump White House, which has quickly unwound regulatory crackdowns on the industry. The federal government has also adopted sweeping pro-crypto policies that could upend the U.S. financial system for decades to come.

All of this stems from one of the most intense lobbying melees in recent history.

For months, industry executives, professional lobbyists, campaign staff, and Trump’s business partners and family members have orchestrated a decentralized but surprisingly effective “influence operation” to transform Trump from an outspoken Bitcoin skeptic to the most important supporter of the crypto space.

The influence operation, while legal, stands out by Washington standards, combining the president’s personal interests with tactics long used by corporate lobbyists.

“None of this compares to what I’m seeing now,” Rep. Maxine Waters of California, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview. “The amount of money is just off the charts.”

White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement that the Trump administration is "delivering on the president's commitment to make the United States a global hub for encryption by driving innovation and economic opportunity."

Many of Trump's allies stressed that he is always willing to listen to a variety of viewpoints - but that the final big decisions are his own.

"No one can convince Trump except Trump himself," Bailey said.

Joining the "Orange Pill" Camp: From "Scam" to "Modern Art or Whatever"

 Donald J. Trump, persuaded by longtime business partner Bill Zanker, launched a series of Trump-branded non-fungible tokens in 2022. Those NFTs sold out almost immediately.

Crypto enthusiasts have a term for the process of turning bitcoin skeptics into believers: “orange pilling,” a reference to bitcoin’s iconic color and a plot point in the 1999 movie “The Matrix.”

Trump is a prime target.

In the past, he has called cryptocurrencies “not money” and “castles in the air.” But the president is notoriously flexible on many topics. Crypto supporters just need to find the right message and the right person to deliver it.

Trump's softening stance on cryptocurrencies came after he came into contact with his longtime business partner Bill Zanker.

In the 1980s, Mr. Zanker founded a for-profit educational company, Learning Annex, which offered lectures from celebrities, including Mr. Trump, on how to succeed in life and business. Mr. Zanker later co-authored a book with Mr. Trump and has dabbled in various other ventures, including selling massage services and fitness equipment.

By 2022, Mr. Zanker had reinvented himself as a crypto entrepreneur, pitching Mr. Trump a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — crypto-based collectible digital images that resemble baseball cards for the internet age. Each image featured a cartoon version of Mr. Trump, dressed as an astronaut, a cowboy or a superhero. Mr. Zanker told him the NFTs could generate as much as $100 million.

The NFTs went on sale in December 2022, advertised as “Trump digital trading cards,” and sold out almost immediately. (Trump earned more than $7 million from NFT sales, according to a financial disclosure document filed last year covering 2023 and the first few months of 2024.)

About a year after the initial sale, in November 2023, crypto enthusiasts who purchased the NFT were invited to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. This was a key moment in Trump's transformation and the first time he promoted crypto investing to a group of supporters.

 Over the years, Zanker has worked with Trump on a variety of business ventures, and by 2022, he had transformed himself into a cryptocurrency entrepreneur.

Speaking to guests, the then-former president seemed unsure how to describe the exotic new financial product he was promoting — “modern art or whatever,” he said — but he was certain he was making a lot of money from the pictures, which he sold for $99 each, according to recordings obtained by The New York Times.

“They sold out in less than a day,” Trump said. “I could have sold them for $199, $299, $399, $499.”

In early May 2024, Trump hosted another event for NFT holders at Mar-a-Lago as the presidential campaign intensified. During a free question session, a guest asked Trump if supporters could donate to the campaign in digital currency, and according to a recording obtained by The New York Times, Trump sounded a little uncertain, but he made a commitment.

"If you can't," he replied, "I'll make sure you can."

About two weeks later, the Trump campaign officially announced the policy: they would accept cryptocurrency donations.

The crypto industry seeks political allies during the campaign

 Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, home to countless conferences and fundraising dinners, has attracted many cryptocurrency executives. Credit... The crypto industry needs more than just the next president to accept their money. Executives are looking for a political champion.

The cryptocurrency industry needs the next president to do more than simply accept their money, and executives are in the market for a political leader.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against a string of major crypto companies during Joe Biden's term, setting off years of court battles. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has assembled an influential group of lawmakers who argue that cryptocurrencies are fundamentally dangerous to the economy. Industry pleas to the Biden campaign have mostly failed.

So, in early 2024, a small group of crypto executives began their “courtship” of Trump.

Here are the key figures who have had a significant impact on cryptocurrency policy during Donald Trump’s presidency and campaign:

David Bailey

Position: CEO of BTC Inc.

Role: Active Bitcoin advocate, has organized major industry conferences, and successfully facilitated Trump's post on Truth Social supporting Bitcoin mining.

David Sacks

Who: Silicon Valley venture capitalist, White House AI and crypto czar

Role: The point person for technology policy in the Trump administration, who was named the "AI and Crypto Czar."

Brad Garlinghouse

Position: CEO of Ripple

Role: Head of Ripple, actively lobbying the Trump administration to include XRP in the national crypto reserve.

Stuart Alderoty

Position: Chief Legal Officer of Ripple

Role: As a key figure in Ripple, he participated in lobbying against Trump together with Brad Garlinghouse.

Charles Hoskinson

Identity: Founder of Input Output

Role: A prominent crypto executive who, despite having his meeting with Trump cancelled, has personally and his company tried to influence crypto legislation and policy.

Paul Manafort

Identity: Trump's former campaign chairman

Role: As a long-time ally and advisor to Trump, he helps crypto industry figures connect with Trump.

Bill Zanker

Identity: Trump's long-term business partner

Role: Successfully persuaded Trump to release the NFT series and was an early promoter of Trump's exposure to cryptocurrency and understanding of its commercial potential.

Tracy Hoyos-López

Identity: Bitcoin advocate, former prosecutor

Role: Has a personal network and works closely with David Bailey to help him connect with the Trump team.

Brian Ballard

Identity: Major Trump fundraiser and lobbyist

Role: Connecting crypto companies with the Trump administration through his lobbying firm and fundraising network.

Reince Priebus

Position: Former White House Chief of Staff

Role: Influential in Trump's circle, provides consulting and assistance to the crypto industry.

Eric Trump

Identity: Trump's second son

Role: A member of the Trump family, he is involved in the family's crypto business activities, such as World Liberty Financial.

Leading the effort is Mr. Bailey, who organizes one of the industry’s largest corporate conferences. He works closely with Tracy Hoyos-López, a Bitcoin advocate and former prosecutor with valuable personal connections: Her father is a friend of Paul Manafort, the chairman of Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Mr. Manafort helped arrange Bailey’s first meeting with Mr. Trump in May 2024 at Trump Tower.

“Paul saw a political opportunity,” Mr. Bailey said. “He’s a very pro-Bitcoin guy.”

Trump was in the midst of his criminal trial in Manhattan involving illegal campaign contributions and arrived at Trump Tower after a long day in court.

Mr. Bailey was joined by three other crypto advocates who believe crypto investors could become a significant voting bloc, on par with gun industry supporters, and who noted that Ms. Warren is one of their industry’s main opponents.

Mr. Bailey said he once showed a chart showing how bitcoin prices rose during Mr. Trump’s first term. He called it the “Trump Pump.”

Mr. Bailey recalled that Mr. Trump gleefully repeated the phrase.

Five days later, Trump gave a speech at the Libertarian Party’s nominating convention, where he pledged to “stop Joe Biden’s crackdown on crypto” and “keep Elizabeth Warren and her ilk away from your Bitcoin.”

Soon, millions of dollars in crypto began flowing into Trump’s campaign.

The founders of Kraken and Gemini, two crypto exchanges that have been sued by the SEC, have each donated more than $1 million to pro-Trump groups. In June, venture capitalist David Sacks hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his home in San Francisco, where the candidate dined with a group of executives, including a senior lawyer at Coinbase, the largest U.S. exchange (another SEC target).

 David Bailey, CEO of digital currency company BTC Inc., successfully persuaded Trump to post on Truth Social to express support for Bitcoin mining. Credit…

Mr. Bailey has also been actively drumming up support, arranging a visit to Mar-a-Lago in June for bitcoin mining executives and saying he had raised $30 million to support Mr. Trump’s campaign.

More importantly, he also secured Mr. Trump’s appearance as a keynote speaker at the annual Bitcoin conference in Nashville, an event organized by Mr. Bailey’s company that is expected to bring together tens of thousands of crypto enthusiasts — a tantalizing pool of potential supporters.

Two weeks before the speech, Trump was shot in the ear during a failed assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. But he did not back down and kept his promise to Bitcoin believers.

“He made sure his team called us and let us know that no matter what — even if the sky fell, he was going to come to the meeting,” Hoyos-López said on a crypto podcast this year.

As the convention approached, Mr. Bailey learned that Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming and a longtime crypto advocate, planned to introduce a bill calling for the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve, akin to a digital-age Fort Knox.

Mr. Bailey was intrigued. A federal reserve would give government recognition to an industry long snubbed by Washington, elevating Bitcoin to the status of strategic assets like gold and oil. He asked the Trump campaign to endorse the proposal.

Trump delivered again.

Before thousands of cheering supporters in Nashville, he pledged to create a "strategic national bitcoin reserve."

Trump declared: “I will be the pro-innovation, pro-Bitcoin president that America needs.”

The "battle" after victory: the power game in the White House crypto circle

If Trump’s “orange pillization” began as a behind-the-scenes influence operation during the presidential campaign, it became a public show after his victory in November.

Less than a month after his election, Trump selected David Sacks as his "AI and Crypto Czar," responsible for managing the government's technology policy.

But nearly every figure in the crypto world is vying for direct access to the White House. Crypto companies and their executives spent $9.9 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2025.

Days after Trump was sworn in, Coinbase, which donated $1 million to the inaugural fund, announced the appointment of Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump campaign official, to its global advisory board. Paul Manafort, who was convicted of criminal charges related to foreign lobbying in 2018 and later pardoned by Trump, has begun advising crypto interests on how to navigate the president’s circle, according to three people familiar with the industry.

Arguably, Trump’s most active “pursuer” is Ripple, a crypto company that provides cross-border payment services and has been battling the SEC in court for years.

In January, Ripple donated nearly $5 million to Trump’s inaugural committee — the second-largest donation the committee has ever received.

 Brad Garlinghouse, left, chief executive of cryptocurrency company Ripple. Ripple donated nearly $5 million to Trump's inaugural committee — its second-largest donation — and spent $400,000 on lobbying in the first three months of the year. Credit…

In the first three months of 2025, Ripple spent another $400,000 on lobbying, with much of it going to two firms with close ties to Trump: Ballard Partners, run by Brian Ballard, a major Trump fundraiser; and Michael Best Strategies, whose advisory board includes Mr. LaCivita and Reince Priebus, Mr. Trump’s former White House chief of staff.

In a January interview, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told The New York Times that he had encouraged Trump and his advisers to expand the bitcoin reserve proposal that was originally proposed in Nashville. He wants the U.S. to reserve other types of cryptocurrencies — including Ripple’s signature token, XRP.

Ripple executives touted their dinner with Trump on social media, posting photos with the president-elect. “The bourguignon was delicious,” wrote Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty.

 Some of Ripple’s industry colleagues, such as prominent cryptocurrency executive Charles Hoskinson, have bristled at the huge sums the company has spent to build its influence.

Some industry peers are dissatisfied with this.

Charles Hoskinson, a prominent crypto executive, mocked Ripple executives, writing on social media that they “spent $5 million on dinner with Trump,” referring to Ripple’s large donation to the inaugural committee.

Mr. Hoskinson has his own policy agenda. His company, Input Output Global, donated $250,000 to Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee, and he is eager to shape crypto legislation on Capitol Hill.

After the inauguration, Mr. Hoskinson paid $1 million to a Trump-aligned political action committee to attend another fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

But as he was on a plane en route to the March 1 event, he received some surprising news. His invitation had been rescinded. There had been a problem with the Secret Service background check, he was told.

Mr Hoskinson received a refund. But he said in an interview that he was still waiting for a full explanation of what happened.

Mr. Hoskinson said Ms. O'Rourke, who organized the dinner, offered a possible explanation. She told his staff that the problem might be with his previous post about Ripple.

“I made a promise.”

 In March, Trump hosted a digital assets summit at the White House with his “AI and crypto czar” David Sachs, as well as other administration officials and tech executives.

That dinner turned out to be a golden opportunity for Ripple.

Among those in attendance were some who dined with Mr. Trump in January, including Mr. Alderoty of Ripple and Ms. Nocco, the Ballard adviser.

A frequent attendee at Trump fundraisers, Nocco is married to a Florida county sheriff with whom Trump has a good relationship and maintains a cordial relationship, with Trump affectionately referring to her as "the sheriff's wife."

One night in March, Nocco proposed to the president that Ripple’s XRP be added to the reserve, noting that the company had generously supported him, according to six people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity.

Trump listened to her request.

The morning after the dinner, he wrote on Truth Social that he had directed a presidential task force to “advance a crypto strategic reserve” plan that would include XRP, as well as two other digital currencies — one associated with Mr. Hoskinson’s company (although his invitation was rescinded) and another with Solana Labs.

The news came as a shock to the crypto industry. The coins Trump listed were not considered on the same level as Bitcoin. It was like putting a bunch of copper coins next to gold bars in Fort Knox.

Hoskinson and a co-founder of Solana Labs were quick to distance themselves from the idea. A spokesperson for Ripple did not respond to a request for comment.

Almost immediately, Trump was besieged by allies and advisers who told him he was being manipulated by Ballard consultants working for the Ripple account, four people familiar with the matter said. The price of Ripple’s XRP surged 33% — a fact that the president’s aides pointed out to him. (Some details of the incident were earlier reported by Politico.)

Amid a backlash behind the scenes, crypto czar Mr. Sacks posted on X that Mr. Trump was planning to build a reserve containing “bitcoin and other top cryptocurrencies,” in line with his campaign promises.

Three minutes later, Trump revised his original post to include bitcoin and ethereum, the second most valuable digital currency.

“I like Bitcoin and Ethereum too!” he wrote.

A direct beneficiary of this update is his family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, which recently bought a large amount of Ethereum, which increased in value by $33 million following the president’s announcement.

Still, Trump felt he was being used and told aides he didn’t want Ballard or his team at any more fundraisers, two people familiar with the matter said. Ballard later met with Trump at the White House to smooth things over and has appeared with Trump at some events since then.

Eventually, the reserve program took a more modest form.

On March 6, Trump issued an executive order establishing a federal reserve containing bitcoins acquired by the government through legal seizures, and pledged to consider acquiring more bitcoins in the future.

Mr. Trump reviewed the documents in the Oval Office, with Mr. Sacks at his side.

"Is this something you completely believe?" the president asked.

“One hundred percent,” Sacks replied.

"And I made a commitment, right?" Trump asked again.

“Of course,” Sacks responded.

Trump then signed the order.