Silicon Valley courts Trump in latest crypto campaigning push: report

Former United States President and current leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took to Silicon Valley in his latest campaign financing efforts.

Trump raised $12 million from a Thursday night fundraiser held at the San Francisco house of David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur and investor, Reuters reports citing people who attended the fundraiser. Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya cohosted the event.

Trump's appearance gears up his embrace of crypto in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. Prominent crypto leaders such as Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss also attended the fundraiser, according to Reuters.

Tools for Humanity Chief Business Officer Trevor Traina, who previously served as a Trump ambassador to Austria, told Reuters that Trump "said he would be the crypto president" at the fundraiser. Jacob Helberg, adviser to Palantir Technologies, told the publication Trump "made clear that the Biden-Gensler crusade against crypto will grind to a halt within one hour of a second Trump administration."

Republican National Committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon said Trump provided no details on his cryptocurrency policy. But crypto supporters are still looking to him for the forthcoming election.

"I spoke with ~6 people there," Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe said in a post on X. "None identified as Republican. All voted or donated Democrat in the past. Now they’re backing this guy for his policies on war, immigration, crypto, and more. This election is a referendum on those issues."

Trump declared support for crypto in late May and even added the cryptocurrencies bitcoin, ether, solana, dogecoin and shiba inu as acceptable donations for his campaign.

At the Libertarian Convention held on May 25, Trump also said he would commute the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, stop the creation of central bank digital currencies ( CBDCs ) in the U.S. and support self-custody rights, The Block previously reported.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign began reaching out to crypto industry players late last month for guidance on “crypto community and policy,” sources previously told The Block .