Trump Says US Crypto Startups 'Will Be Living in Hell' If He's Not Elected

During the launch event for his World Liberty Financial crypto platform, former U.S. President Donald Trump said that he believes U.S. crypto builders under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission "will be living in hell" if he is not elected for a second term this November.

"If we don't win the election, those people that were under investigation and that are free as a bird right now," Trump said, "and people that weren't being looked at in the crypto world, they will be living in hell—because it will start the day after the election if they win."

At a launch event hosted by Decrypt's sister company Rug Radio for Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto project, Trump discussed what he described as the "incredibly hostile" approach to crypto regulation by the SEC under current Chair Gary Gensler.

The regulator has targeted crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, and sent a legal threat to NFT marketplace OpenSea. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

But there have been surprises in recent months. For example, the prospect of the SEC approving Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) appeared far-fetched despite January's approval of Bitcoin funds. But then in May, the agency did an about-face and gave the green light to Ethereum ETFs, which began trading in July.

There was speculation at the time that Trump's own public embrace of cryptocurrency and promises to bring friendlier regulation to the industry may have persuaded the Biden administration to cool off on crypto enforcement. And Trump himself thinks there's something to it.

"Frankly, since they heard I was involved, they've treated people much better," he said. "Maybe they view it as votes."

Despite that apparent shift in tone from the Biden administration, Trump's Democratic rival in the election, Kamala Harris, has yet to provide any specifics about her approach to crypto regulation. However, some crypto industry heavyweights—including billionaire investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban—have said that her team reached out to learn more.