Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – a democrat who’s thrown his hat into the presidential race against Joe Biden – made his first appearance as a candidate this month at the famed Miami Bitcoin Conference.
Robert Kennedy and Bitcoin… A Solid Match?
Kennedy is not your typical far-left leaning liberal. He’s a vaccine skeptic and he’s clearly standing with an industry that many of his constituents have deemed damaging to the environment. Elements like these are potentially going to get him a lot of followers in the coming weeks given there are likely to be several members of the democrat party that aren’t happy about the extreme stance their group has taken over the last five years.
Brandon Green – chief of staff to conference organizer BTC Media – commented:
We asked him to speak after hearing his positive comments toward the bitcoin industry.
Kennedy is not slated to be paid for making his appearance, nor is he going to earn any speaking fees for the campaign appearances he makes over the next year or so as he pursues the road to the White House, according to his spokesperson Stefanie Spear.
Anthony Scaramucci – a bitcoin fan and the former communications director for President Donald Trump – said Kennedy’s love for bitcoin will likely endear him to the growing array of digital currency fans that appear to be getting stronger each day. He stated:
In my mind, there’s this shadow fandom or currently invisible lobbying group — and it’s probably currently about 77 million people — of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency holders in the United States. I think it’s going to be a topical issue in 2024, and I would imagine that one of these presidential nominees will embrace bitcoin, and if they do, that’ll give them an edge… These are people who are typically agnostic [to] party.
In a recent discussion, Kennedy stated that monetary freedom is just as important as all the other rights and liberties given to naturalized Americans, thus suggesting crypto could indeed be a solid tool for remaining stable against oppressive regimes. He said:
Monetary freedom is as important as freedom of speech. Without it, we are slaves. It’s not outlandish to imagine that even here in America, your bank account could one day be frozen because of your politics or comments you’ve made on social media.
Not Everyone’s Enthused
Some, like Elizabeth Moran of the environmental non-profit Earth Justice, are skeptical of his alignment with the crypto space. They believe, given the industry’s knack for overusing energy, that this could wind up hurting Kennedy in the long run. She said:
This problem is really limited to bitcoin and maybe a couple of other smaller cryptocurrencies at this point. Energy consumption is so great in some places that utility bills are skyrocketing for consumers.
