Vivek Ramaswamy, the pharmaceutical billionaire running for president as a Republican candidate, is aiming to win over pro-cryptocurrency voters.
On September 20 in New York City, Ramaswamy was the featured speaker at the annual conference of the crypto data company Messari, per Fox Business . In a conversation with the company’s CEO, Ryan Selkis, Ramaswamy promised the gathering, which was primarily made up of cryptocurrency aficionados, that if he were elected, he would adopt his own framework for regulating the industry.
He intends to unveil this framework before Thanksgiving. He claimed that this new strategy will entail abolishing the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler’s present system, which members of the crypto business have criticized as “regulation by enforcement.”
🚀🔗 Vivek Ramaswamy is making waves in crypto! 🌐 At Messari’s Mainnet conference, he announced a ” #Crypto Policy framework” coming by Thanksgiving. Join the convo on blockchain’s role in politics! 🤝 #CryptoPolicy #BlockchainTalk #VivekRamaswamy @MessariCrypto pic.twitter.com/cUMZ4Ka2YX
— Entitled Trader (@EntitledTrader) September 21, 2023
Ramaswamy reminded a cheering crowd that “one thing a president can fix” is ending Gensler’s “reign of terror”—as his enforcement policies are known in the crypto industry.
In fact, Ramaswamy declared that his plan to restructure the federal bureaucracy will include the SEC and its 4,500 employees. If elected, Ramaswamy claims to eliminate three-letter agencies like the FBI and the Department of Education and reduce federal government employment by 75% within his first term in office. He stated in the interview that once he has the full vision to control the $1 trillion crypto business, he will make it available to the public as a white paper. “We’re about 75% of the way there,” he said. “We want to get feedback before this is finalized.”
Presidential Candidate @VivekGRamaswamy addresses crowd at #Mainnet2023 , outlines vision for #Crypto in America. The vision of Ramaswamy, who accepts #Bitcoin for his campaign, includes a proposal to roll back tax restrictions on #Bitcoinmining #StandWithCrypto @TheSiliconHill pic.twitter.com/jWeRHCRQrn
— Dan Spuller (@DanSpuller) September 20, 2023
A Ramaswamy donor named Selkis stated at the occasion that he had seen the framework and confirmed it was about three-quarters finished. Selkis said in a post on Twitter , after the event, “I hosted a private event with Vivek after our fireside and he is excellent (and deep) on crypto far beyond what he even shared on stage today. Impressive. That was the one word I heard from everyone walking out of the event. He’s the real deal and he isn’t 80.”
According to Gensler, the SEC has jurisdiction over the sector and is requiring corporations to abide by several SEC laws to avoid regulatory action.
Republicans in Congress and senior figures in the cryptocurrency sector argue that this is untrue and that Gensler is acting outside of his authority because the securities rules are ambiguous. Despite recent gains in the polls, Ramaswamy continues to stand tall behind former President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner. Ramaswamy has positioned himself as the election’s most crypto-friendly candidate, taking bitcoin donations and promising to “dismantle managerial bureaucracy.”
While recently published financial disclosure forms from the Office of Government Ethics show the former president currently owns up to $500,000 in digital assets, Trump has not publicly stated his position on cryptocurrencies.