vc Page 15

https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli

In order to allow developers to use "human language" to work with AI, Gemini CLI reduces the complexity of traditional programming interfaces and is very easy to use:

You can ask questions, edit files, or run commands directly.

For best results, it's best to describe your needs as specifically as possible.

Enter "/help". More information is also available.

In addition to Gemini CLI, in the field of programming, Google has also deployed tools such as Gemini Code Assist and asynchronous AI assistant Jules.

At the press conference, Google senior software engineer Taylor Mullen said: "Using Gemini CLI, you can use natural language to talk to computers, solve problems, and integrate complex workflows to accomplish things that were impossible in the past."

This is seen as a head-to-head confrontation with OpenAI and Anthropic.

OpenAI and Anthropic have already joined the terminal AI tool track:

OpenAI launches open source Codex CLI;

Anthropic launched Claude Code, etc., which are favored by developers for their lightweight, easy integration, and fast response.

Technically, Gemini CLI has the same origin as the Google AI coding assistant plug-in Gemini Code Assist.

In VS Code, just enable agent mode in the chat window to enter your requirements, and Code Assist will work tirelessly:

Write test cases, fix bugs, develop new features, and even complete code migration…

This means that whether developers are users of the free version, standard version or enterprise version, they can enjoy AI-driven coding functions in VS Code and the terminal environment.

This kind of cross-platform thinking allows developers to avoid the "difficulty of choice".

This time Google has made such a big move that Ai2 scientist Nathan Lambert began to long for: the free premium version of Gemini is just around the corner!

More than just writing code

The functionality of Gemini CLI goes far beyond writing code and supports more common task scenarios.

It is designed to be very versatile and can perform tasks such as generating content, solving problems, and conducting research.

While most users will use Gemini CLI for programming, Google says the tool supports a variety of other uses as well. For example:

Ryan J. Salva, senior director of product at Google, thinks this is how work will be done in the next 10 years.

At the press conference, he said:

We believe that over the next decade these tools will dominate the way developers and creators of all kinds work.

Whether you're a student, hobbyist, freelancer or developer, you should have the same tools.

It seems that this time Google is really here: from programming to video shooting, AI is used to inspire all kinds of creativity!

References:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-25/google-debuts-gemini-ai-coding-tool-in-bid-to-entice-developers

https://x.com/googleaidevs/status/1937861646082515205

https://blog.google/technology/developers/introducing-gemini-cli-open-source-ai-agent/

Gemini CLI: Google brings AI smarts to the terminal

Google unveils Gemini CLI, an open source AI tool for terminals

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7343640552640344069/

At the "Belt and Road" Science and Technology Exchange Conference held in Chongqing, my country proposed the "International Science and Technology Cooperation Initiative" for the first time, advocating and practicing the concept of international science and technology cooperation that is open, fair, just and non-discriminatory, adhering to the principle that "science knows no borders and benefits all mankind", and jointly builds a global science and technology community.

China for the first time proposed an international science and technology cooperation initiative at the Belt and Road Conference on Science and Technology Exchange in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. The initiative calls for advocating and practicing the concept of open, fair, just and non-discriminatory international cooperation in science and technology, adhering to the principle that "science has no borders and benefits all mankind," and joining hands to build a global community of science and technology.

A corner of the venue of the first "Belt and Road" Science and Technology Exchange Conference taken on November 6, 2023. Image source: Xinhua News Agency

【Knowledge Points】

At present, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century and is accelerating. Human development is facing more and more major challenges. Human society needs international cooperation and open sharing more than ever before. Through scientific and technological innovation cooperation, we can explore and solve global problems, jointly respond to the challenges of the times, and promote peaceful development. Scientific and technological cooperation is an important part of cooperation in jointly building the "Belt and Road". Over the years, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has worked with partners from various countries to consolidate and deepen bilateral and multilateral scientific and technological cooperation between governments, continue to expand exchanges and exchanges in the scientific and technological community, continuously improve the level of joint research and development, vigorously promote technology demonstration, promotion and application, jointly support innovation and entrepreneurship, and contribute positively to enhancing the scientific and technological capabilities of various countries, serving the economic and social development of various countries, and deepening friendship between countries.

The "International Science and Technology Cooperation Initiative" includes six specific contents including adhering to advocating science, innovative development, open cooperation, equality and inclusiveness, solidarity and collaboration, and universal benefit and win-win, such as improving global science and technology governance and strengthening intellectual property protection; strengthening global science and technology innovation collaboration to jointly build a global innovation network; adhering to scientific and technological innovation personnel and resources flow freely around the world, strengthen talent exchanges and cooperation; advocate all countries and scientific research entities to participate in international scientific and technological cooperation on an equal footing; strengthen in-depth collaboration and mutual learning among scientific and technological innovation entities; explore mutually beneficial and win-win new models of global scientific and technological innovation cooperation, and promote mutual benefit and mutual sharing of scientific and technological innovation achievements, etc.

【Important speech】

We deeply realize that only win-win cooperation can accomplish things, do good things, and do great things. As long as all countries have the desire to cooperate and coordinate actions, natural chasms can be opened up, "land-locked countries" can become "land-linked countries", and lowlands of development can become highlands of prosperity.

We have learned that win-win cooperation is the sure way to success in launching major initiatives that benefit all. When countries embrace cooperation and act in concert, a deep chasm can be turned into a thoroughfare, land-locked countries can become land-linked, and a place of underdevelopment can be transformed into a land of prosperity.

——On October 18, 2023, Xi Jinping’s important speech at the opening ceremony of the 3rd “Belt and Road” International Cooperation Summit Forum

【Congratulatory message】

At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are developing in depth. To solve the problem of common development, mankind needs international cooperation and open sharing more than ever before.

As a new round of sci-tech revolution and industrial transformation continues to evolve, mankind needs international cooperation, openness and sharing more than ever in order to address common development problems.

——On May 25, 2023, Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter to the 2023 Zhongguancun Forum

【Related vocabulary】

Global Science and Technology Innovation Collaboration

global collaboration on technological innovation

Global Technology Governance

global science and technology governance

global science and technology community

global scientific and technological community

china daily website english commentary studio

(This article was first published on the "Study Powerful Nation" learning platform)

Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin fell as investor expectations for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve weakened. Bitcoin fell to $115,100, its lowest level since July 11. At the same time, Ethereum fell by about 2% and Ripple fell by more than 5%.

Bitcoin rose to an all-time high of $123,200 last week, continuing a steady upward trend driven by optimism about an improving U.S. regulatory environment and massive inflows into crypto investment products. However, Rachael Lucas, an analyst at cryptocurrency trading platform BTC Markets, said: “While the overall upward trend remains intact, momentum has weakened and traders have become more cautious.”

Data released on Thursday showed that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits in the United States for the week ended July 19 was 217,000, falling for the sixth consecutive week and still the lowest level since mid-April, lower than market expectations of 226,000 and the previous value of 221,000. In addition, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits in the United States fell slightly to 1.955 million in the week ended July 19, which was lower than market expectations of 1.96 million and the previous value of 1.956 million. Although weak hiring has made it difficult for many laid-off workers to find new opportunities, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, indicating that labor market conditions remain stable. Better-than-expected employment data also provided reason for the Fed to continue to act cautiously.

In addition, the market's bearish sentiment is also reflected in the derivatives market. According to prime broker FalconX, an unidentified speculator paid approximately $5 million in option premiums on the Deribit exchange to purchase a batch of Bitcoin put options expiring on August 8 with a strike price of $110,000.

IG Australia analyst Tony Sycamore said: “We expect Bitcoin prices to continue to consolidate before remaining below the current monthly trend line resistance of approximately $125,000.” He said that this trend line was the key technical level that prevented Bitcoin from continuing to rise last week.

Lei Di.com Lei Jianping reported on March 20

Tiger Securities, a company owned by Xiaomi, was listed on Nasdaq in the United States today, with an issue price of US$8, higher than the issuance range of US$5 to US$7 per share.

The lead underwriters of Tiger Brokers' IPO are Deutsche Bank and Citigroup. The company plans to be listed on Nasdaq under the trading code "TIGR". During the global road show, its IPO subscription has exceeded its fundraising by more than ten times.

With the long-term support of international long-term funds, Tiger Brokers can increase the issuance limit by 20% to $8.4/ADS. Ultimately, the company set the offering price at $8.

Calculated based on the issuance of 13 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), plus the simultaneous private placement of US$7 million ADS to existing shareholder Interactive Brokers, the total amount raised by Tiger Brokers rose to US$111 million.

According to the revised prospectus previously submitted by Tiger Brokers to the SEC, including the over-allotment of 1.95 million shares that may be executed by the underwriters, the maximum fundraising amount will reach US$127 million.

Wu Tianhua, founder of Tiger Brokers, delivered a speech

Wu Tianhua, founder of Tiger Brokers, said in his speech at the listing that today is an important step in progress. We are proud of these achievements, but the mission never stops.

“The listing marks a new beginning, stay focused and never forget your original intention!”

Wu Tianhua said that this is the best era, and technology allows us to realize our dreams. On this epic journey, I would like to thank my colleagues who work day and night to support Tiger Brokers’ global operations.

When talking about the listing of Tiger Securities, Wu Haiyan, a partner at Huachuang Capital, told Leidi.com that the wealth level and investment capabilities of Chinese people around the world are increasing rapidly. Huachuang is very fortunate and happy to invest in Tiger Securities founded by Wu Tianhua at the end of 2016 and witness the rapid growth of Tiger Securities.

"Tianhua is my junior student in the Computer Science Department of Tsinghua University. I am even more proud to see that today Tianhua can lead the company he founded to be listed on Nasdaq and usher in an important milestone in the company's growth."

Wu Haiyan said that Wu Tianhua is a person with strong technical ability. He was an amateur investment expert before starting a business. After starting a business, he was also able to learn and grow quickly in organizational strategy, team management, and capital markets.

"Congratulations to Tianhua and all colleagues at Tiger Brokers for finding a "wet and long snow path" and taking the lead. I am willing to continue to work hard and be a friend of time."

Revenue last year was $33.56 million

Lei Jianping, founder of Lei Di Touch Network, takes a photo with Wu Tianhua

Founded in 2014, Tiger Brokers is positioned as a Chinese Internet brokerage and aims to improve everyone's investment efficiency through financial technology. It has obtained brokerage licenses or permits from the United States, New Zealand, and Australia.

The prospectus shows that Tiger Brokers’ total revenue in 2018 was US$33.56 million, a year-on-year increase of 98%. The revenue from 2016 to 2017 was US$5.476 million and US$16.949 million respectively.

In 2018, the company's annual net loss based on non-GAAP was US$10.089 million.

Tiger Brokers' income mainly comes from transaction commissions, financing service fees, investment income, interest and other income. In 2018, transaction commission income was US$26.043 million, accounting for approximately 77.6%, and financing service fee income was US$6.442 million, accounting for approximately 19.2%.

Tiger Brokers’ revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018 was US$9.51 million, an increase of 56% from the same period last year.

Among them, Tiger Brokers’ income from trading commissions accounted for US$7.08 million, and income from financing service fees amounted to US$1.718 million.

Tiger Brokers' net loss in the fourth quarter of 2018 was US$2.117 million, a decrease of 38% from the loss of US$3.45 million in the previous quarter, and a decrease of 10% from the loss of US$2.34 million in the same period last year.

As of December 31, 2018, Tiger Brokers had 1.58 million registered users, 502,000 account opening customers, and 82,000 deposit customers.

In the same period in 2017 and 2016, these three data were 713,000, 205,000, 42,000 and 368,000, 79,000 and 14,000 respectively.

As of December 31, 2018, 71.5% of Tiger Brokers’ individual customers were under the age of 35, and more than 86.6% had an annual income exceeding US$40,000.

Xiaomi and Interactive Brokers are important shareholders

Wu Tianhua, the founder of Tiger Brokers, graduated from Tsinghua University with a bachelor's degree in computer science. He worked at NetEase for eight years and was very good at stock trading in the early days.

Li Jianwei, Zhao Xinghua and Wu Tianhua took a group photo

Li Jianwei, an investor in Tiger Securities and two managing partners of Zhencheng Investment, said in an interview with Leidi.com at the listing site that the process of investing in Tiger Securities is quite story-telling.

At first, I and Wu Tianhua, the founder of Tiger Brokers, were both in a stock community, and I was a fan of Wu Tianhua. "In the early days, Tianhua opened a paid training course on options. I was one of the students. I know that Tianhua is very good at stock trading and has strong Internet technology."

This kind of training allowed everyone to establish an understanding of Wu Tianhua's trading and technical capabilities. When Wu Tianhua decided to start a business as an Internet brokerage, Li Jianwei felt that it was very reliable, because Wu Tianhua loved this thing very much and had sufficient accumulation in the field.

"When Tianhua came out to do Tiger Securities, I recommended it to Mr. Xu (Note: Xu Xiaoping, a partner of Zhen Fund). At that time, Tiger's products had not yet been released and the team had just been formed."

However, at that time, Li Jianwei believed that Tiger Brokers had the opportunity to become China's Interactive Brokers (note: an Internet brokerage with a market value of more than 20 billion US dollars is also a shareholder of Tiger Brokers), and Wu Tianhua was a rare talent who best understood Internet technology and securities trading in the securities trading circle. Xu Xiaoping liked this positioning very much, and decided on the spot to make the decision, and Zhen Fund became an early shareholder of Tiger Brokers.

Tiger Brokers also received multiple rounds of financing before going public:

In September 2015, Tiger Brokers announced that it had received a 100 million yuan Series A investment from Xiaomi Technology;

In March 2017, Tiger Brokers announced the completion of a 100 million yuan B+ round of financing, led by Hua Chuang Capital and followed by Zhen Fund;

In July 2018, Tiger Brokers announced the completion of Series C financing, with a post-investment valuation of US$1.06 billion. Investors include PAC (Prospect Avenue Capital), Orient Hontai Capital, Oceanpine Capital, etc.

Rogers at the listing site of Tiger Securities

The characteristic of Tiger Securities is that there are many investors holding small shares. For example, Meituan-Dianping CEO Wang Xing, modern Wall Street figure Rogers, and Huagai Capital are also shareholders of Tiger Securities.

Rogers also visited the office of Tiger Securities. He once said that the company's focus on the US stock market and Fintech applications was one of the reasons why he invested in Tiger Securities.

"In terms of Fintech, I think China is not inferior to the United States at all, and is even more advanced in the field of mobile payment."

Rogers said that technology changes everything in the financial industry, and Tiger Brokers will continue to change the financial industry. Especially in Asia, the Chinese middle class is growing rapidly, and these people are eager for better asset allocation channels.

Before the IPO, Wu Tianhua held 18.9% of the shares through sky fintech holding limited and had 70% of the voting rights;

Xiaomi holds a 14.1% stake in Tiger Brokers through People Better Limited and has 5.2% voting rights;

Group photo of Tang Binsen, Li Li, Xie Wei and Wu Tianhua

Tang Binsen holds 12.4% of the shares through tigerex holding limited and has 4.6% of the voting rights;

IB global invertments LLC, the largest Internet brokerage in the United States, holds 7.7% of the shares and 2.9% of the voting rights;

Jager Fintech holding limited holds 7% of the equity and 2.6% of the voting rights.

Interactive Brokers is not only a major shareholder and partner of Tiger Brokers, but also provides Tiger Brokers with support in industry knowledge, legal and compliance matters, and risk management.

The following is Wu Tianhua’s breakfast speech:

Dear Nasdaq colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, good morning!

Ladies, Gentlemen & our dear friends at Nasdaq, Good morning!

It's an honor to be here with you all today. Ten years ago, I had the entrepreneurial dream of investing in US stock companies listed on NASDAQ.

Today, by focusing on technological innovation, Tiger Brokers has become a gateway for Chinese investors to invest in the world's best companies. At the same time, we are very proud that Nasdaq has become one of the most important partners in our journey.

It's my great honor to be here. Ten years ago, investing in Nasdaq listed companies inspired me to found Tiger Brokers. Today, through our focus on innovation, Tiger Brokers has become a gateway for global Chinese to invest in the best companies all over the world, and I am very proud to have Nasdaq as one of our most important partners on this journey.

Thanks to the support of all users and friends, Tiger Brokers has continued to create new industry records: in less than three years, the cumulative transaction size has exceeded one trillion yuan, which is the fastest known speed in the industry; in terms of US stock trading volume, we are the largest Internet brokerage focusing on serving Chinese people around the world. In November last year, our first ETF product TTTN was also launched on Nasdaq.

Thanks to all my users and friends, Tiger Brokers has kept setting new records. We have achieved 1 trillion RMB trading volume in less than 3 years, the fastest ever in this industry. We are now the biggest online broker for Chinese investors trading US securities. We also launched our first ETF, ticker TTTN, on Nasdaq last November.

For us, today is an important step forward. We are proud of these achievements, but the mission never stops. Listing marks a new beginning, stay focused and never forget your original intention!

Today is an important milestone for us. We are proud of what we have achieved, but we will never rest. Listing marks a new beginning, we will stay focused and remain true to our founding aspirations!

Thank you all! .

Thank you all for joining me for this special moment today!

The following is Wu Tianhua’s speech when ringing the bell:

Good morning everyone, I am Wu Tianhua, the founder of Tiger Securities. It's a great honor to be here and thank you all for coming.

Good morning everyone, my name is Tianhua WU, founder of Tiger Brokers. It's my great honor to be here today. Thank you all for coming.

Almost ten years ago, I was very interested in investing in US stocks and US stock options and was an active trader. At that time, although there were many brokerage products on the market, none were tailor-made for Chinese people, and the experience was very poor. From that moment on, I had a dream.

That is, one day I will be able to create a new generation of securities firms, help Chinese people invest in the best companies in the world more conveniently through better technology, and share the dividends of technological development.

About 10 years ago, I became an active trader in US stocks and options. Although there are many US brokers, none of them are tailored to Chinese users. Since then I had a dream, I wanted to build a new generation online broker through tech innovation that would help Chinese people invest in the best companies around the world.

With this dream in mind, we launched our self-developed trading software Tiger Trade four years ago. Thanks to the support of all users, we have achieved rapid development.

Tiger Brokers' cumulative transaction size exceeded one trillion yuan in three years, which is the fastest speed known in the industry. Judging from the trading volume of U.S. stocks, we are the largest Internet brokerage focusing on serving Chinese people around the world.

With this dream, we launched our own trading platform called Tiger Trade 4 years ago. Thanks to our users, we have achieved great growth. We reached 1 Trillion RMB total trading volume in less than 3 years, the fastest in the industry. We are now the biggest online broker for Chinese trading US Securities.

This is the best of times, technology allows us to realize our dreams. On this epic journey, I want to thank my colleagues who are working around the clock to support our global operations.

Thank you to all users and shareholders for their trust. Today marks a new beginning. We will have a longer road and more arduous struggles in the future. Let us stick to our ideals and live up to our mission.

Now is the best era; technology enables us to accomplish dreams. Thanks to all my friends and colleagues who have been part of this epic journey and to all my employees who are working around the clock to support our global operation.

Thanks for the trust from our users and our shareholders. Today only marks the new beginning, there is a long journey to go and more uphill battles to fight. Let's stick to our dreams and passions and deliver the best result to our users and shareholders.

Thanks again!

Thank you.

————————————————

Finally, the new President of the United States, Trump, was officially sworn in.

In the past few weeks, Trump, who has not yet taken office, has become one of the focuses of the world's news media: threatening to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal by force, threatening to annex Canada, playing a perfect "block-and-rescue" double act with TikTok, and what is even more surprising is that on the eve of taking office, the new US president and his wife successively issued cryptocurrency in their own names.

Before the last news focus has passed, Trump has already launched the next sensational focus. As Steve Bannon, his adviser during his first presidential term, said, as long as you are covered in flaws, others (the news media) will not be able to catch your flaws. (Bannon’s original words are: The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.)

As early as the 2024 election, Trump frequently expressed his attitude towards the cryptocurrency field and "showed goodwill" to the currency circle, raising the expectations of virtual cryptocurrency investors for him.

For example, at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July 2024, Trump made a series of eye-catching promises:

Let the United States become the first country to list Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, allowing the federal government to retain the approximately 210,000 Bitcoins currently held; fire the current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who is considered hostile to the cryptocurrency industry; establish a Presidential Advisory Committee on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency, which will formulate U.S. cryptocurrency policy; encourage power plants to strengthen power supply for Bitcoin mining, and explore synergies between the encryption industry and the electric vehicle industry; etc.

A month later, on August 29, 2024, he said in a video: "This afternoon, I will announce my plan to ensure that the United States becomes the global capital of cryptocurrency."

At 21:00 local time on January 17, 2025, Trump announced on social media that he would release his own cryptocurrency $TRUMP (Trump Meme) on the Solana blockchain. According to public information, the number of $TRUMP tokens currently issued is 200 million, and an additional 800 million are planned to be issued in the next three years; 80% of the supply of this token is held by an entity called "Fight Fight Fight" jointly owned by Trump's company CIC Digital and CIC.

It is said that when Trump issued the currency this time, he was holding a reception party for cryptocurrency investors. With the help of this "right time and right place", the price of Trump's meme currency quickly skyrocketed dozens of times, causing his paper wealth to suddenly rise to the top of the world's richest list. Immediately afterwards, Trump’s wife Melania also issued her own official cryptocurrency $MELANIA, and there was even news that his youngest son also issued his own cryptocurrency.

According to bitcion.com News on the 20th, on January 20th, the value of Melania’s meme currency increased by nearly 40% in 24 hours. Data from Coingecko shows that the meme coin peaked at more than $13 before falling to about $10.60; trading volume surged from $1.33 billion on the 19th to $6.6 billion on the 20th. With a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, it ranks among the top 100 crypto assets.

In comparison, the Trump meme coin $TRUMP fell by more than 17% before his inauguration. However, its trading volume exceeded $47 billion, making it one of the most traded crypto assets on the 20th. On the same day, Trump Meme Coin broke into the top 20 crypto assets with a market capitalization of $11.1 billion.

The market capitalization and trading volume of Trump Meme Coin and Melania Meme Coin as of this writing. Digital currency trading platform Coinmarketcap

Although the author has analyzed Trump's possible preferential policies for the cryptocurrency industry, the act of a family personally issuing cryptocurrency is indeed beyond our poor imagination.

In particular, Trump had not officially taken office as president at the time of the issuance, and the domestic regulations on civil servants in the United States are likely not to apply to him; and other laws and regulations are not clear about the issuance of cryptocurrency by politicians who do not hold official positions. There is a high probability that Trump will successfully exploit the loopholes this time. Of course, Trump will basically control the legislative process in the United States in the next four years, and the share of cryptocurrency he controls (80%) can reportedly be unfrozen and sold in batches within three years. This timing design is probably not a coincidence.

So, what do Americans think of Trump issuing a personal cryptocurrency?

His opponents are naturally angry. On reddit forums on the left side of the political spectrum, comments such as "corruption", "fraud" and "cutting leeks" are everywhere. On the "True Social" social media platform where Trump supporters gather, in the comments under relevant posts, some supporters wanted to buy cryptocurrencies but were unable to do so due to various reasons. Some people lost money on Trump's social media company stocks and hoped that he could shift some of his attention to the stock prices of his social media companies.

On other Internet platforms (including the Chinese Internet), it is easy to search for various posts and screenshots about people who bought Trump’s personal cryptocurrency as soon as the market opened and became rich instantly. Coupled with the algorithm push mechanism of today’s platforms, it is easy for people to have a kind of anxiety that “the whole world has become rich, and I am the only one left behind.” A friend of the author also wanted to try to buy a few Trump meme coins over the weekend out of the mentality of being an internet celebrity. However, perhaps due to technical reasons, he was unable to complete the transaction. He could only miss out on the legendary overnight wealth.

But if we put aside speculative gossip such as the price fluctuations of Trump’s personal cryptocurrency, the Trump family’s issuance of cryptocurrency has indeed given cryptocurrency investors a clear signal of encouragement: In return for their election votes, many investors hope that Trump will give a green light to cryptocurrency in terms of U.S. laws and regulations soon after taking office, such as relaxing legal and regulatory restrictions on financial institutions’ purchase and holding of cryptocurrency, etc., to create greater investment market demand for cryptocurrency.

To some extent, the Trump phenomenon is a concrete manifestation of the confrontation between "new money" and "old money" in the United States. Just as the author once wrote an article analyzing U.S. government fiscal spending and Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the "new money" in the United States will not only challenge the market share of traditional military industry "old money" in defense spending, but the cryptocurrency industry and financial technology companies will also challenge the control of U.S. dollar assets by traditional large banks and investment banks.

This battle between “new money” and “old money” will not be decided just because Trump is elected. On the contrary, everyone's brutal competition for "cake distribution" has just begun with Trump taking office. Trump’s issuance of a personal cryptocurrency was the first time that he took a big piece of the cake and put it into his own bowl. I am afraid it also set a clear “example” for many future American politicians and officials within his government.

What is BRC

BRC is the abbreviation of British Retail Consortium. BRC has specially developed a set of quality system audit standards for food suppliers. This set of standards includes assessment requirements for food suppliers' quality, safety and hygiene assurance capabilities. BRC's audit standards have been widely recognized by European food retailers, and are used by many European food retailers and purchasing groups as a threshold for supplier access. Therefore, passing the BRC audit has become an important condition for food manufacturers to sell their products into the European market. Since the BRC system was proposed in the 1990s, it has been continuously revised and improved and has now reached its seventh edition.

The BRC food safety system is also making great strides internationally. The International Confederation of Food Retailers (CIES), which has more than 200 supermarket groups around the world as members, launched GFSI – the "Global Food Safety Action Plan" last year. GFSI has recognized BRC as the standard recommended by the organization to its members. This certification, like the securities industry, evaluates the company's food safety and quality management system and determines the grade. For food companies, according to the inspection list, the number of problems found is determined, and the grade is obtained. Currently, there are grades of AA, A, B, C, and D.

BRC FOOD standard advantages

1. Standard operability, 2. Reasonable factory rating system, 3. Giving consumers confidence.

Encouraging enterprises to participate in surprise inspections "unannounced inspections" is a strong guarantee for testing the operational quality of an enterprise's food safety system. As human beings, we all have the root of laziness. We usually don’t work hard and just improvise. The same is true for companies' external inspections, which are usually relatively lax. Paying attention to hygiene before the inspection is back to Chairman Mao's famous saying: "It is easy for a person to do good deeds once in a while, but it is difficult to do good deeds all his life." Foreigners use the power of external inspection to solve this kind of inertia. You don’t know when you will be inspected, so you can only perform according to the standards honestly every day. However, as long as the factory can handle the surprise inspection, it generally has hard power in implementing standards, and in turn will convey confidence in its product safety to the outside world and win greater trust.

So, what does the factory produce? How many nonconformities are there and the factory is compliant? How to read a BRC report and learn information about a company thousands of miles away? Let's start with how to read the BRC report. The BRC report is divided into 3 parts:

1. Basic information of the factory This part

Just like a company's credit report, because it reflects the basic situation of the company at a specific point in time: name, address, contact person, production scope, company profile, audit level, etc., it tells you the framework and foundation of the company's food safety and quality management system. For this part of the content, the following three points should be noted:

First of all, we are concerned about the scope of factory certification and the level audit mode. Generally speaking, primary agricultural products require further processing and are less risky; ready-to-eat products are easy to spoil and are more risky. Of course, the higher the level, the better, that is, A is better than B, and surprise inspections are better than regular inspections.

Secondly, when did this company start to certify BRC food? Generally speaking, old companies are struggling in the market economy, and they always have some foundations in quality. Small companies have just grown up, and all aspects of regulations are imperfect. If the company written on the report has started BRC certification for a long time, such as more than three times, the product quality of this company is still guaranteed; if it is a new company and has just started certification, we cannot unilaterally think that the product quality of this company is not good. The specific content depends on the content at the end of the report, but in general, companies that have certified BRC for many years will be able to directly convey the reliability of some product quality than newly certified companies.

Finally, to see who the auditor is, consumers can request relevant information from the certification agency. Young auditors who have just started auditing are not so flexible in their grasp of standards. Although these auditors have experienced strict training and inspections by the BRC organization and audit institutions, they still have a long way to go. They need a period of tempering in product knowledge and factory categories. How to treat the reports of old auditors and new auditors? I have a mantra: There are old auditors and bold auditors at work, but there are no bold old auditors. For new auditors, the audit agency will have a strict control process. When consumers get the report written by the new auditor, they should trust him as a reference. However, it is still recommended that customers read their reports more. After all, no matter how strict the control is, there will inevitably be flaws. For experienced auditors, because they have seen many factories and written many reports, their risk assessment of factory products is more in line with the actual situation. Generally, they do not need to spend too much energy to read the reports they write, and just pay more attention to the results.

2. Check the non-conformities and their rectification status

This section tells us that the company issued several non-conformities regarding on-site documents, records, hardware, and personal hygiene within two days of the audit. The content in this section is not a snapshot of a precise point in time like the basic information about the factory. It reflects on-site findings during an audit period. For example, you are at a crime scene and notice someone stealing something. But in court, there is no physical evidence, only the testimony of witnesses. Of course, if you use your mobile phone to film the process of stealing something, you will have physical evidence. However, there is a due diligence requirement for reviewing this work, and you must keep the client confidential. Therefore, taking photos is not normally allowed during the audit process, so the auditor needs to be accompanied by someone during the audit process.

How to deal with these non-conformities? Some non-conformities are independent of the system, such as "senior management did not sign the quality manual", such as "the factory did not conduct a supplier traceability system investigation", etc. Although these non-conformities may be more problematic, they are an independent action and have little correlation with other content in the system. For these non-compliance items, readers can regard them as a point with little serial connection in the system. Its occurrence has little impact on other aspects of the system and does not have the upper-lower connection of the "iceberg model". However, some non-conformance items are systemic, such as "rat poop was found." This non-conformance item looks like a point, but it is actually a failure of the pest control system. If rat poop is found, it means that the control measures have not achieved results, which further shows that the limited analysis of the pest system does not meet the requirements. This further infers that the entire factory has insufficient training and insufficient attention to pest control, and then deduces whether other pest control measures have similar problems? More attention should be paid to such systematic non-conformities.

3. Detailed checklist section

TA records all aspects of the company's food safety and quality management system in detail, including the good and bad parts. The checklist ties the contents of Parts 1 and 2 together.

What are the basic contents of BRC’s audit standards?

1. Management commitment 2. HACCP system 3. Quality management system 4. Factory environmental standards 5. Product control 6. Process control 7. Personnel management and others.

This part is the bulk of the entire report and the most error-prone part. Due to the imperfect information recorded by the auditor during the pre- and post-inspection process, which we also call "audit bias", inconsistencies may occur. If readers read this part after getting this report, it is recommended that they read it in the order of the report, but what should they focus on? Pay attention to information such as time, numbers, frequency, etc. This information is the most prone to errors. If these areas are completely consistent and the derivation is consistent, this report will be an excellent report. But generally speaking, for companies, products from old and big brands are safer. Of course, a good audit report does not necessarily mean that the company produces good products, but learning to read the BRC FOOD audit report will make you more confident in a certain brand of food, such as milk and bread.

After Trump won the election, the cryptocurrency market experienced a wave of strong growth.

Different from the Biden administration's suppression of crypto assets, Trump frequently expressed his support during the campaign in favor of listing Bitcoin as a U.S. strategic reserve asset and vowed to make the United States a "cryptocurrency capital."

Trump's election has ignited speculation in the entire cryptocurrency market. How will his second term affect the development of the cryptocurrency industry? How long can the currency circle’s “Trump carnival” last?

Currency frenzy

At the end of November, Bitcoin once reached a high of $99,000, setting a new historical record. As of December 3, the price of Bitcoin remained at around US$95,000, an increase of 116% during the year, with a total market value of approximately US$2 trillion, once again surpassing silver and becoming the eighth largest asset in the world.

Ethereum is the largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. Ethereum prices have risen significantly since Trump’s victory, outperforming even Bitcoin, but have yet to reach new highs. Currently, Ethereum is trading around $3,750.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, in the past November, the monthly net inflows of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs both hit records, reaching US$6.5 billion and US$1.1 billion respectively. Last Friday (November 29), the subscription volume of the Ethereum ETF also hit a single-day record high.

Not only did Bitcoin and Ethereum perform brilliantly, but the entire cryptocurrency market related to them also ushered in a wave of enthusiasm. The market value of Ripple has increased significantly from less than US$30 billion in early November to more than US$137 billion, becoming the third largest cryptocurrency; Dogecoin, supported by Trump ally Elon Musk, has soared by more than 150%.

Data from CoinGecko shows that since Trump won the election, the cryptocurrency market value has increased by approximately $1.2 trillion and has now exceeded the $3.2 trillion mark.

“There is a trend in the cryptocurrency market: initially the price of Bitcoin rises, but other tokens will also rise.” Caroline Bowler, CEO of digital asset exchange BTC Markets, said that based on the inflow of investor funds into digital asset exchanges, cryptocurrency trading activities have not yet peaked.

Government endorsement?

The craze in the currency circle in the past month is inseparable from Trump's positive stance on cryptocurrencies during the campaign and his own involvement in cryptocurrency trading.

At the end of September, Trump and his three sons announced their latest entrepreneurial project, World Liberty Financial. The new venture, dubbed a decentralized finance (DeFi) money market platform, has launched a proprietary cryptocurrency called WLFI.

However, Trump’s rapid expansion into the cryptocurrency field has raised concerns about conflicts of interest. Forbes pointed out that as a presidential candidate, Trump’s behavior of launching a personal encryption platform may be inconsistent with his policy-making responsibilities. In addition, WLFI’s governance tokens (note: governance tokens give holders voting rights for issues governing the development and operation of blockchain projects) are only open to qualified investors with net assets exceeding US$1 million or annual income exceeding US$200,000, which runs counter to the original intention of Bitcoin’s equality.

Trump was once a skeptic of cryptocurrencies, but during this year's campaign he embraced cryptocurrencies, a shift largely driven by massive political donations from the cryptocurrency industry and sustained lobbying by industry figures.

Data from the U.S. Federal Election Commission shows that cryptocurrency industry-related political action committees (PACs) and other organizations supporting the industry raised more than $245 million in the 2024 election. Cryptocurrencies accounted for nearly half of all election funding, and no other industry came close, according to a report by nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen.

The cryptocurrency industry’s financial investment goes beyond simple donations and has helped shape the most crypto-friendly Congress in U.S. history. According to the latest tracking by the Stand With Crypto Alliance, nearly 300 pro-cryptocurrency lawmakers will take office in the House and Senate.

Trump has promised on multiple occasions that if he is re-elected as president, he will wholeheartedly embrace cryptocurrency and plans to build the United States into a "bitcoin superpower" and the "global cryptocurrency capital." He even boldly proposed that the US’s rising US$34 trillion national debt could be reduced through Bitcoin. At a campaign rally, Trump half-jokingly said: “We’ll solve our debt problem by giving them a little bit of Bitcoin.”

In July this year, Trump delivered a speech at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference, the largest annual conference in the cryptocurrency industry, saying that he would list Bitcoin as a U.S. strategic reserve asset by using the Bitcoin currently held by the government to build this reserve plan. The estimated number of these Bitcoins is about 200,000, with a value of about $18 billion, most of which were seized in the fight against criminal activity.

Senator Cynthia Ramis has been a major supporter of the plan. She introduced the Bitcoin Act in July this year, proposing the establishment of a decentralized Bitcoin vault network managed by the U.S. Treasury Department. The bill outlines the government’s plan to acquire up to 200,000 Bitcoins per year over the next five years, with the cumulative total expected to reach 1 million Bitcoins, accounting for approximately 5% of the total Bitcoin supply.

Arash Aloushe, assistant professor of finance and fintech at Dublin City University in Ireland, said, "The concept of a 'strategic Bitcoin reserve' in the United States is groundbreaking, but under current conditions, it is extremely unlikely to become a reality. The establishment of such a reserve means that the US government officially supports Bitcoin, may put public funds into Bitcoin, and recognize it as a national asset, which is inconsistent with the government's cautious stance on cryptocurrencies to date."

Regulatory changes

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that Trump’s return to the White House means that cryptocurrency will enter a new era with fewer government regulatory obstacles.

Trump plans to nominate a number of pro-cryptocurrency officials to financial regulators and has promised to fire U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, who has always had a strict regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies.

The SEC is one of the major regulatory agencies in the U.S. cryptocurrency field. During Gensler's tenure, the SEC tightened its attitude towards the encryption industry and launched a series of high-profile lawsuits against cryptocurrency-related companies. 2023 is the climax year of SEC enforcement actions. Data shows that in fiscal year 2023, the SEC filed a total of 784 enforcement actions and prosecuted multiple unregistered crypto asset issuances, platforms and intermediaries.

Gensler believes that most cryptocurrencies are securities and has sought to enforce compliance through enforcement actions. He has also directly pointed out in public many times that cryptocurrency is "riddled with fraud, scams, bankruptcies and money laundering."

Last month, Gensler announced that he would step down on Trump's inauguration day, January 20 next year. His term was originally set to end in June 2026.

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the next U.S. SEC chairman is likely to provide favorable solutions for cryptocurrency exchanges. Lawyers seen as Gensler's successors have emerged as critics of Gensler's lawsuit.

One potential candidate, former US SEC chief counsel Robert Stebbins, said the SEC should suspend most cryptocurrency lawsuits while clearing a path for companies to do business without the burden of litigation. Stebbins said, "As long as there are no fraudulent claims involved, the SEC will likely drop these cases in the future."

On December 2, CNBC reported that Coinbase’s senior policy director expected that once Trump becomes president, the U.S. Congress will quickly pass regulatory legislation on the cryptocurrency industry.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said that Trump has previously clearly supported cryptocurrencies. At the same time, the Republicans also gained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which should make the process of Congressional approval of cryptocurrency-related laws smoother.

“We have the most pro-crypto Congress in history and a very pro-crypto president coming in,” Shirzad said. “This combination should finally allow the 50 million Americans who own cryptocurrencies to have their interests and voice heard in policy.”

Currently, the U.S. Congress is considering passing two key pieces of cryptocurrency-related legislation. One is the Republican-sponsored "21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act", which aims to establish a legal framework for digital assets and was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year; the other is the "Payment Stablecoin Clarity Act", which aims to establish a regulatory system to provide licenses to issuers of stablecoins (tokens linked to the value of fiat currencies such as the US dollar). It has not yet passed the House of Representatives.

In addition, the Trump team is also considering whether to create a new position in the White House dedicated to cryptocurrency policy. The holder of this position will lead a small team and serve as a liaison between Congress, the White House and various cryptocurrency regulatory agencies.

Be alert to risks

The cryptocurrency industry has seen huge price fluctuations in recent years. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the price of Bitcoin was just over $5,000. Less than two years later, climbing to nearly $69,000 in November 2021, Bitcoin prices plummeted amid a subsequent series of aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to curb inflation. In 2022, the world's famous cryptocurrency exchange FTX encountered a liquidity crisis and eventually collapsed, seriously weakening investors' overall confidence in cryptocurrency.

Since the beginning of this year, Bitcoin has surged by more than 100%, but violent fluctuations in the short term have once again exposed the fragility and high risks of the cryptocurrency market. From the evening of November 25th to the early morning of November 26th, the price of Bitcoin experienced violent fluctuations, rising to around US$99,000 and then suddenly plummeting. In just a few hours, the price dropped by more than 6%, falling below US$93,000, causing more than 170,000 people to liquidate their positions, with the total liquidation amount reaching US$547 million. Other cryptocurrencies also experienced varying degrees of decline. Among them, Dogecoin, Adacoin, etc. all fell by more than 9%.

Susannah Streeter, head of funds and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said recently: "Investors should only get involved in cryptocurrencies with funds that they are prepared to lose, because we have seen such violent fluctuations in the past."

Vanessa Lyon of the Boston Consulting Group said: "While Trump's support may bring short-term benefits, improper regulation may lead to greater market risks."

GoUpSec analyst FunnyG believes that as the price of Bitcoin continues to hit new highs, the number of cybercriminal activities closely related to the cryptocurrency market and the scale of losses caused will increase significantly. In recent years, cryptocurrencies have gradually become a core tool for cybercrime, used in activities such as money laundering, ransomware payments, and cyber and telecommunications fraud. According to the latest report from Chainalysis, the amount of illegal transactions related to cryptocurrency has exceeded 20 billion US dollars in 2023, setting a record high. It can be said that the “cybercrime bull market” of cryptocurrency has already started before the market.

21st Century Business Herald reporter Hu Tianjiao comprehensively reported that after about US$610 million in assets were hacked at one time, the cross-chain DeFi (decentralized finance) platform Poly Network has received intermittently repayments from hackers.

On the morning of August 12, local time, Poly Network stated on social media that as of 8:18:29 on the same day, hackers had returned approximately US$342 million in assets, of which the amounts returned to Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon were US$04.6 million, US$252 million, and US$85,000, respectively.

"Theft is for fun." After returning some assets, the hacker explained in the blockchain by asking questions. "Poly Network is a good system, which is very challenging for hackers. I personally am not very interested in money."

But even if the amount returned reaches approximately US$342 million, compared with the approximately US$610 million that was previously hacked, there are still approximately US$268 million in Ethereum assets that have yet to be returned by hackers.

Poly Network became known on Tuesday for suffering what may become the largest DeFi hacker theft in history. On August 10, local time, Poly Network stated that it had been attacked by hackers, causing asset losses worth approximately US$610 million. US$250 million, US$270 million, and US$85 million were stolen from the three chains of Ethereum, BSC, and Polygon respectively. “Tens of thousands of people have been affected by hackers. Currently, approximately $33 million in the stolen stablecoin Tether has been frozen by the issuer of Tether, making it impossible for hackers to obtain it.”

"Dear hacker, we hope to contact you as soon as possible and ask you to return the stolen assets," Poly Network wrote in a subsequent letter. "What you have done may cause the largest Defi theft in history. This may be classified as a crime in any jurisdiction and you will be prosecuted."

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, said at the same time, "We are aware of the vulnerability that occurred today. Although no one controls BSC (or ETH), we are coordinating with all security partners to proactively provide help, and we will do our best." Security researcher SlowMist said that this is likely to be a long-term planned, organized, and prepared attack. The attacker's email, IP address and device fingerprint have been identified.

About an hour after the hack was announced, Tether Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino blacklisted the hacker's address before the hacker attempted to transfer assets, including USDT, to liquidity pool Curve Finance via an Ethereum address, thereby freezing approximately $33 million in Tether funds. But even so, nearly $100 million was transferred from Binance Smart Chain addresses to the liquidity pool Ellipsis Finance.

“Hackers have begun using decentralized exchanges to convert stolen assets into other assets, including stablecoins,” Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson explained. “Tokens such as stablecoins can theoretically be confiscated by their issuers, which may enable them to be returned to their rightful owners. However, this is not possible with stolen Ethereum assets.”

With DeFi applications attracting billions of dollars in investment funds, the former has naturally become a popular target for hackers. Data from encryption security company CipherTrace shows that so far this year, Defi-related hacking attacks account for more than 60% of total encryption attacks, up from 20% the previous year. As of the first five months of 2021, the amount stolen from Defi-related hacking attacks was US$156 million, which has exceeded the US$129 million value for the whole of 2020.

However, the overall situation for cryptocurrencies is improving. CipherTrace data shows that criminal losses across the cryptocurrency market dropped sharply to $681 million at the end of July, down from $1.9 billion in 2020 and $4.5 billion in 2019. The overall downward trend may reflect significant improvements in the cryptocurrency industry’s security infrastructure.

The rise in Defi illegal activities comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) speeds up its regulation of crypto assets and seeks legislative support from the Senate. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a recent response to a question from Senator Elizabeth Warren that regulators need more power to protect investors. “Lawmakers should give regulators clear authority to set rules for crypto asset exchanges, including DeFi trading venues. The SEC needs more power to prevent transactions, products, and platforms from falling through the regulatory cracks.”

In June 2021, after falsely reporting a "hacking" incident to customers, Ameer Cajee and Raees Cajee, the founders of the South African exchange Africrypt, disappeared with more than $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin, becoming one of the largest Bitcoin thefts in history.

According to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade on January 30, in 2023, the national trade promotion system issued a total of 9,273 outbound ATA carnets, a year-on-year increase of 191.97%.

China's national trade promotion system issued 9,273 Admission Temporaire/Temporary Admission (ATA) Carnets in 2023, surging by 191.97 percent year on year, said the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) on January 30.

On January 30, 2024, an ocean-going ro-ro ship loaded passenger vehicles for export overseas in the Jiangyin Port Area of ​​Fuzhou Port (drone photo). Image source: Xinhua News Agency

【Knowledge Points】

The ATA carnet is an internationally accepted customs clearance document. It was specially created by the World Customs Organization for temporary entry and exit of goods. It is also called a "cargo clearance passport".

According to reports, in 2023, the national trade promotion system issued a total of 6.2102 million certificates of origin, ATA carnets, commercial certificates and other certificates, a year-on-year increase of 16.05%. Among them, the total amount of non-preferential certificate of origin visas issued by the national trade promotion system was US$382.209 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.13%; the number of visas totaled 3.9143 million, a year-on-year increase of 13.44%.

The total value of preferential certificate of origin visas issued by the national trade promotion system was US$65.152 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.07%; the number of visas totaled 1.6769 million, a year-on-year increase of 21.54%. The steady growth in the number of certificates of origin issued by the national trade promotion system, especially preferential certificates of origin, shows that as my country increases the implementation and promotion of free trade agreements and other stabilizing foreign trade policy effects, the ability and level of my country's foreign trade enterprises to enjoy export preferential treatment are also constantly improving.

【Important speech】

We must unswervingly promote Chinese-style modernization, fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, promote high-quality development, and coordinate development and security. We must persist in seeking progress while maintaining stability, promoting stability through advancement, establishing first and then breaking, consolidate and enhance the positive trend of economic recovery, and achieve long-term economic stability.

We will steadfastly advance Chinese modernization, fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, speed up building the new development paradigm, promote high-quality development, and both pursue development and safeguard security. We will continue to act on the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promoting stability through progress, and establishing the new before abolishing the old. We will consolidate and strengthen the momentum of economic recovery, and work to achieve steady and long-term economic development.

——Xi Jinping’s 2024 New Year’s message delivered on December 31, 2023

We have implemented a more proactive opening-up strategy, built a global network of high-standard free trade zones, accelerated the construction of pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port, and jointly built the Belt and Road Initiative into a popular international public good and international cooperation platform. my country has become a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, ranking first in the world in terms of total trade in goods, leading the world in attracting foreign capital and outbound investment, forming a larger-scale, wider-field, and deeper opening-up pattern.

We have pursued a more proactive strategy of opening up. We have worked to build a globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas and accelerated the development of pilot free trade zones and the Hainan Free Trade Port. As a collaborative endeavor, the Belt and Road Initiative has been welcomed by the international community both as a public good and a cooperation platform. China has become a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, it leads the world in total volume of trade in goods, and it is a major destination for global investment and a leading country in outbound investment. Through these efforts, we have advanced a broader agenda of opening up across more areas and in greater depth.

——Xi Jinping’s report at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 16, 2022

【Related vocabulary】

Foreign trade enterprises

foreign trade enterprises

certificate of origin

Certificates of Origin

China Daily English Dianjin Studio (This article was first published on the "Study Powerful Country" learning platform)

At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Donald Trump announced to loud applause from the audience that he would fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and appoint a pro-digital asset regulator if he returns to the White House.

The former president had been critical of cryptocurrencies, but since he began selling his own NFTs, Trump has shifted his stance and won support from many in the cryptocurrency community, including Elon Musk and the Winklevoss twins.

Trump has not only positioned himself as a supporter of cryptocurrency, but has also raised millions of dollars in campaign funds from the industry and expressed his hope that the United States will lead the world in Bitcoin and other digital assets.

It was supposed to be a cryptocurrency conference but could easily have been mistaken for a Trump rally.

At one event, vendors hawked red hats emblazoned with the slogan “Make Bitcoin Great Again,” and the audience erupted in applause when Donald Trump promised to fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler if he returned to the White House and replace him with a regulator who loves the digital asset industry.

“I promise the Bitcoin community that the day I am sworn in, the anti-cryptocurrency movement of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will end,” Trump said at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville on Saturday, comparing cryptocurrencies to the steel industry of a century ago. “If Bitcoin is going to go to the moon,” he added, “I want the United States to be the country leading the charge.”

The speech marked a sweeping shift in the former president's attitude toward an asset class he once viewed as a crime-ridden scam when he was in office. It also signals a growing convergence between what was once an outsider political machine and an outsider financial movement that is moving into the mainstream.

Trump spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville on July 27. Trump, once a critic of cryptocurrencies, has changed his attitude since he started selling his NFTs

Conventional wisdom holds that this strategy is nothing more than a classic Trump transactional relationship. He needs votes and money in what looks set to be a tight presidential race, and he's taking advantage when the Joe Biden administration cracks down on the cryptocurrency industry.

If that's the case, then the strategy clearly worked. The cryptocurrency ecosystem’s public image is dominated by cyber warriors with deep pockets, which for Trump was fertile ground for raising tens of millions in campaign funds and a legion of passionate supporters.

His new role as a cheerleader for the industry has helped him win support from the likes of Dogecoin enthusiast Elon Musk, billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

“As Bitcoin Conference demonstrated, President Trump wants our country to regain its position as a global leader in technology, innovation and manufacturing,” said Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the campaign. “This includes cryptocurrencies and other industries.”

All the donations and noise coming from the cryptocurrency space did not go unnoticed by the other side. Bitcoin fans circulated a letter purportedly signed by more than two dozen Democratic lawmakers and candidates on social platform X. The letter was sent to the party’s national committee urging a softer approach to digital assets.

Despite enjoying so much new support, there is another important factor in Trump’s conversion into a believer in cryptocurrencies. Put simply, he fell in love with his own-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — and the backers who bought them — and that enthusiasm has turned into widespread recognition for the entire industry, according to insiders.

Trump’s questions about the valuation of digital assets have not slowed his enthusiasm for promoting NFTs. That was made abundantly clear in May when he gave impromptu remarks at a rally at Mar-a-Lago to supporters who had purchased at least 47 digital trading cards. These pop art-style portraits of the former president include images of him dressed as cowboys, superheroes and other fantasy characters.

The NFTs cost $99 each, but Trump has publicly said whether he could sell them more expensively.

"There's a big difference between $99 and $499, $599, maybe $1,000, I don't know," he told viewers, according to a video of the event during a recess in his New York hush-money criminal trial. "But I don't want to do that. I want to keep the price the same. Now, no one is going to believe it, they're going to say 'Oh, that's bullshit' about this guy."

Not long ago, Trump himself was a critic of cryptocurrencies, accusing Bitcoin and other tokens of promoting crime and criticizing the valuations constructed from "castles in the air." But Trump changed his mind after he and his wife Melania started selling NFTs.

“Trump’s NFTs were what really introduced him to the cryptocurrency community for the first time,” said Kristin Smith, CEO of the Blockchain Association, a trade group that has been one of the liaisons between the Trump campaign and the cryptocurrency industry.

For a scandal-plagued industry facing multiple legal actions from the government, Trump’s pivot on cryptocurrencies has literally turned him into one of his NFT superheroes. And for Trump, the topic gives him another wedge with which to attack his Democratic opponents — a powerful one given the industry's enthusiasm for voting and unprecedented related fundraising.

The pro-cryptocurrency Fairshake Political Action Committee (PAC) and two joint super PACs have raised $170 million this election cycle, although they have primarily focused on congressional races and donated to both parties.

Trump’s symbiotic relationship with the industry is evident in Nashville: As cryptocurrency fans hailed a friendlier regulatory environment, Trump raised huge donations from them. He charged $844,600 for seating at one of his cryptocurrency “roundtables,” and $60,000 per person — $100,000 per couple — for a photo reception with him.

More money will be raised on Monday, when Mike Belshe, CEO of cryptocurrency firm BitGo, will host a fundraiser in Palo Alto, California.

While there are many celebrities in the cryptocurrency world who associate with Trump today, there are some lesser-known figures who also deserve credit — or blame — for guiding him into this wonderful world of digital assets.

One of them is Bill Zanker, founder of adult education company The Learning Annex and co-author of Think Big and Kick Ass. Zonker said he is a long-time friend of Trump and has arranged for Trump to be a speaker for the learning center.

Zanke said in an interview that he approached Trump about two and a half years ago and pitched him an idea: NFTs that featured artistic images of the former president. Zanke recalled that Trump was interested but didn’t want to call them NFTs.

"I want to call it a digital trading card on a computer," Zonker said Trump told him. "If you call them NFTs, people don't understand."

Then came the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange and a spate of other industry bankruptcies in 2022 — a chain of events that left millions of victims “backpacking” and triggered a crackdown on the industry from the Biden administration.

In December 2022, Zanke went to Mar-a-Lago in what he called the "cryptic winter of winter" and asked, "Mr. President, do you still want to continue?" He said, "You know, Bill, a lot of my friends said I shouldn't do it. But I love it, let's do it."

The digital cards are released as a "MugShot Edition" and sell for $99 each.

Trump’s role in this project is anything but passive. “Every picture, he personally reviewed it,” said Bill Zanker. "He spent a lot of time on it. He loved the project and called it 'pop art.'" Zanke also added that the project inspired Trump to spend time studying cryptocurrencies and asked a lot of questions to help him understand related topics such as the Ethereum blockchain.

According to Zanke, these NFTs are so popular that each new collection sells out within hours. Then, two events were held at Mar-a-Lago, one late last year and another in May, for Trump to meet with buyers.

“He fell in love with this group of people: young, ambitious, unregulated,” Zanke said. “He was asked, ‘What do you think about cryptocurrencies?’ and he said, ‘I like it, I don’t like it all going overseas.’ Of course, that got the audience enthusiastic.”

At one point, the subject of accepting campaign donations in cryptocurrency came up, and Trump called his friends to the stage.

"'Zanke, should we accept cryptocurrency donations?'" Zanke recalled Trump asking. “I said yes. He became the crypto president.” So far, the campaign says it has raised more than $4 million in cryptocurrency donations, in addition to traditional U.S. dollar contributions from industry supporters.

The Trump Trading Card NFTs — nearly 200,000 in total, divided into three series — earned Trump and his partners more than $20 million in revenue, according to Zonker, who declined to say how the revenue was divided.

In the wake of NFT activity, the industry’s pursuit of Trump — and his pursuit of potential donors who have become rich in cryptocurrencies — continues to grow.

The next big event was in June, where Trump and his guests ate cookies and mesmerized a small group of executives from cryptocurrency miners at the Mar-a-Lago tea room. These companies own vast, high-tech data centers, conduct transactions on the blockchain, and are compensated in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

“We talked about how to engage the Bitcoin community in the political process,” said Brian Morgenstern, head of public policy at miner Riot Platforms Inc., who previously worked at the White House and Treasury Department during the Trump administration. “If you don’t engage and talk to the candidates, you can’t change policy.”

Trump is clearly very engaged. After meeting with miners, he became a full-throated cheerleader for cryptocurrencies, posting on his Truth Social platform that he wanted all remaining Bitcoins to be "Made in the USA!!!" and saying that Bitcoin mining could be "our last line of defense against central bank digital currencies."

This refers to a central bank digital currency (CBDC), financial institutions’ response to cryptocurrencies that is still in the research phase in the United States. Critics of CBDCs warn that they could be used as surveillance tools because they make it easier for government authorities to track financial flows. Of course, they also pose strong competition to cryptocurrency stablecoins that track the value of the U.S. dollar and other fiat currencies.

A Satochip cryptocurrency wallet on display at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, showing a photo taken after Trump's assassination attempt

Trump’s circle of cryptocurrency advisers is growing, as he relies on billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk to advise the industry. His former opponent in the Republican primary, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, also said he had discussed potential cryptocurrency policy with Trump.

On Capitol Hill, he has found some cryptocurrency believers among Republican allies. Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty, who has emerged as one of Trump's campaign surrogates on cryptocurrency issues, attended a June meeting with miners at Mar-a-Lago and a Bitcoin conference in Nashville.

The cryptocurrency industry featured prominently at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee earlier this month, with Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil participating in a blockchain panel on cryptocurrencies and Hagerty speaking out for the industry on a manufacturing panel.

“We have to get the bureaucracy back in Washington, D.C., to play by the rules, and some of the agencies that we’re seeing have exceeded their authority and created uncertainty — and uncertainty has a very negative impact on capital investment,” Hagerty said.

Just outside the secure perimeter of the Republican National Convention, supporters handed out paper fans promoting the MAGA (Make America Great Again) memecoin, a crypto project that has recruited Trump ally Roger Stone as a partner.

The fans are the latest sign that Trump and the culture surrounding him have become a major phenomenon among traders of memecoins, one of the least innovative but riskiest coins that are easy targets for pump-and-dump scams.

MAGA is the largest Trump-related meme coin, with a total market capitalization of more than $300 million, according to tracking platform CoinGecko. Although these coins have no official connection to Trump, that has not stopped their popularity.

The team at memecoin platform Pump.fun noticed that on July 13 alone, the day after Trump’s assassination attempt, more than 2,000 Trump-related tokens were created.

Of course, there are political risks with Trump being so closely tied to such a notorious asset class if another FTX-like situation arises, or if prices simply fall causing sentiment to sour.

However, having the cryptocurrency industry itself so ideologically aligned with the Republican Party could pose greater risks, according to Hilary Allen, a professor at American University Washington College of Law who focuses on financial law.

“This may alienate some users because cryptocurrency itself is a very ideological investment,” she said. “This may increase appeal to Republican users but may alienate Democratic users.”

Trump trading card site offers real rewards to NFT purchasers, including a physical trading card featuring fragments of the suit he wore during a police photo shoot in Fulton County, Georgia, on August 24, 2023

Only time will tell whether Trump wins a second term and delivers the more favorable regulatory environment the industry wants. Currently, according to betting on Polymarket, a crypto platform that allows people outside the United States to place bets on political outcomes, Trump is the most likely to win, with an implied probability of 57%.

If he wins, friendly regulators may not be his only gift to the industry.

In Nashville, Trump said he would order the government not to sell cryptocurrencies seized in criminal cases and instead use them as the basis for what he called a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

However, Bitcoin gave up its pre-speech gains after Trump did not confirm plans to order the government to buy up to 1 million Bitcoins, while his opponent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a meeting on Friday that Trump may make such an announcement.

Meanwhile, even amid a busy campaign schedule, Trump is plotting the next steps for his own cryptocurrency venture.

A fourth Trump NFT series is in the works, and Zanker said he hopes it will be released in August, promising it will be the "biggest and best yet" with "a lot of surprises." (Some past purchases have included real-world rewards, like a reception at Mar-a-Lago or pieces of the suit Trump wore when he was photographed as a suspect in the Georgia election extortion case.)

"We met with him before the assassination attempt to review the artwork," Zanke said. "He would look at every picture carefully."