Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump walks off stage after speaking at a campaign rally at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump said that if he were returned to the White House, he would ensure that the federal government never sells off its bitcoin holdings. But he stopped short of proposing a formal federal reserve of digital currency.
“For too long our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: Never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said during his keynote speech at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, the biggest bitcoin conference of the year.
The former president’s remarks cameas the race to capture the votes and the campaign cash of America’s frontline fintech adopters takes center stage in the 2024 presidential contest.
“This afternoon I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world and we’ll get it done,” Trump said.
But Trump’s pledge to simply maintain the U.S. government’s current bitcoin holdings was a less radical pitch to the crypto crowd relative to other proposals at the conference.
Third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for instance, during his Friday Bitcoin Conference speech promised to launch a reserve of 4 million bitcoin, starting with the bitcoin holdings that the U.S. government already has stockpiled from criminal seizures. Kennedy said he would mandate the government purchase 550 bitcoin a day until the reserve reached 4 million.
Shortly after Trump’s speech, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy., read out her own legislative proposal to amass an official U.S. federal reserve of 1 million bitcoin over five years.
“It will be held for a minimum of 20 years and can be used for one purpose: Reduce our debt,” Lummis said.
The price of bitcoin briefly dipped during Trump’s speech, but recovered and was up slightly for the day, as of 5:15 p.m. E.T.
Throughout his remarks, the former president worked to draw contrasts between the Republican Party’s growing embrace of crypto versus the hardline regulatory approach that has characterized the Biden administration.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of crypto and bitcoin is wrong and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said. “Let me tell you if they win this election, every one of you will be gone. They will be vicious. They will be ruthless. They will do things that you wouldn’t believe.”
Trump went on to list a series of crypto-friendly promises to a crowd of cheering bitcoin supporters, promising to dismantle what he called the “anti-crypto crusade” of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler,” Trump said, referencing the Biden-appointed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who has taken an aggressive approach to crypto regulation.
The president does not have the power to fire appointed commissioners. Even if Trump were to appoint a new SEC chairman, Gensler would remain a commissioner on the independent agency.
The former president also pledged to create a “bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council.”
“The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” Trump said.
The Republican presidential nominee also held an accompanying fundraiser in Nashville, with tickets topping out at $844,600. In June, BTC Inc. CEO David Bailey, who organized the conference, pledged to raise $100 million and turn out more than 5,000,000 voters for the Trump re-election effort, as the bitcoin sector increasingly turns to the Trump camp for support.
Trump taking the main stage to directly address the bitcoin community is the latest in a months-long campaign to appeal to the crypto contingent, including accepting donations in virtual tokens, pledging to end President Joe Biden’s “war on crypto,” and advocating that all future bitcoin be made in America. It is also quite the about-face by the Republican presidential nominee.
Trump very publicly dismissed bitcoin when he was in the White House. In July 2019, he said he was “not a fan” of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He said that tokens aren’t money, that their value was “based on thin air,” and warned that unregulated crypto assets could help facilitate the drug trade, among “other illegal activity.”
“Bitcoin just seems like a scam,” he told Fox in a phone interview in 2021. “I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar.”
“I want the dollar to be the currency of the world, that’s what I’ve always said,” continued Trump in his conversation with Fox.
But five years, a lost presidential election, and millions of dollars from the crypto lobby later, the Republican presidential nominee sung the praises of the digital currency at the biggest bitcoin conference of the year in Nashville, which kicked off on Thursday.
“Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty and independence from government coercion and control,” Trump said during his keynote speech.
Trump’s shift on bitcoin comes as the Republican Party pledges to lift the red tape of the Biden-Harris administration, working to turn crypto regulation into a voting issue for November, especially as inflation consistently ranks as a top voter priority in polls.
As crypto lobbyists and supporters become more of a presence in Washington, it raises questions on whether the Democratic Party will dig into the hardline regulatory approach of the past several years or ease its position.
“Every presidential candidate needs to understand, digital asset, pro-innovation voters are here to stay,” Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told CNBC in an interview, adding that crypto regulation should not become a “partisan political football.”
“I want to keep this as a bipartisan issue. I don’t want Donald Trump to politicize this issue,” Rep. Nickel said.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Ca., echoed Rep. Nickel’s sentiment, saying that crypto should not turn into a partisan talking point but will require regulation like any technology.
“I don’t really see why it’s partisan. Being against bitcoin is like being against cell phones. It’s like being against AI. It’s like being against laptops,” Khanna told CNBC. “It’s a technology. Have thoughtful regulation on the technology, but it’s a technology that has appreciated from about $10,000 to $80,000.”
Reps. Khanna and Nickel were two of the only Democrats to attend the Bitcoin Conference.
Bitcoin 2024 conference organizers say they were briefly in talks to have Vice President Kamala Harris appear at the conference, though she ultimately declined. But billionaire businessman Mark Cuban posted on X that the Harris campaign had reached out with questions about crypto, so it appears the vice president is looking into this space and potentially figuring out where her policies, if elected president, could land.
“I think we’re going to hear from Vice President Harris soon on this. And I’m very optimistic we’re gonna get a reset. And that I think, will matter in a major way,” Rep. Nickel said. “This issue isn’t going anywhere. And we’ve got to make sure we continue to embrace this in bipartisan way.”
Harris’ team has already begun to reach out to people close to crypto companies to set up meetings, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
Trump’s 180 on bitcoin
The recent thaw in Trump’s sentiment for the digital asset space has coincided with a sudden influx of interest and cash from the country’s top tech talent.
He has raised more than $4 million in a mix of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ether, the U.S. dollar pegged stablecoin USDC, and various memecoins, with contributors hailing from 12 states, including a few battlegrounds.
Crypto billionaire twins and venture investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss led the charge, each contributing 15.57 bitcoin, or just over $1 million at the time of their donation, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission — though they received a partial refund, because contributions surpassed the $844,600 limit.
There are a number of other venture capitalists who are pro-crypto, and they’ve pledged millions to the Trump campaign, as well.
Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz told employees of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) that they plan to make significant donations to political action committees supporting Trump’s campaign. The partners of Sequoia Capital are backing Trump, as is venture investor David Sacks, who helped the former president raise $12 million at a fundraiser he hosted in his San Francisco home. The chief legal officers for centralized crypto exchange Coinbase and blockchain giant Ripple were both there.
These members of the tech elite are also heavily contributing to pro-crypto super PACs like Fairshake, which has raised more than $200 million dollars to elect pro-crypto candidates up and down the ballot, and on both sides of the aisle.
But reporting from NBC News finds that the vice president’s team is looking to win over support from some of big tech’s undecided donors, many of whom remained on the sidelines while President Joe Biden remained in the race. Their tune may be changing now that the vice president is the de facto nominee for the party.
It helps that Harris has a long track record in California.
She has been fundraising in the tech community for years, including from those working at Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Apple.
“The pivot that has occurred in the last three days is dramatic,” Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and one-time gubernatorial candidate for California, told NBC News. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a surge of enthusiasm in any campaign I’ve been involved with.”
This comes as Trump’s running mate for vice president, JD Vance, is set to hold a fundraiser of his own in Palo Alto on Monday.
— CNBC’s Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this report.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s industrial output growth slowed to a five-month low in August, while retail sales also weakened further, raising the case for bolder stimulus to shore up the world’s second-largest economy.
The sluggish data released on Saturday contrasted with the robust export growth seen in August, underscoring the uneven nature of China’s economic recovery.
Industrial output in August expanded 4.5% year-on-year, slowing from the 5.1% pace in July and marking the slowest growth since March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Saturday.
That missed expectations for 4.8% growth in a Reuters poll of 37 analysts.
Retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, rose only 2.1% in August, decelerating from a 2.7% increase in July amid extreme weather and a summer travel peak. Analysts had expected retail sales, which have been anaemic all year, to grow 2.5%.
President Xi Jinping on Thursday urged authorities to strive to achieve the country’s annual economic and social development goals, state media reported, amid expectations more steps are needed to bolster a flagging economic recovery.
Faltering Chinese economic activity has prompted global brokerages to scale back their 2024 China growth forecasts to below the government’s official target of around 5%.
The protracted property slump has prompted Chinese consumers to cut back spending. Some experts have even proposed distributing shopping vouchers to counter the trend.
Premier Li Qiang said last month the country will focus on stimulating consumption and look at measures to boost household income.
A central bank official said last week China still has room to lower the amount of cash banks must hold as reserves while it faces some constraints in cutting interest rates.
Data from the central bank on Friday showed August new yuan loans remained soft.
Fixed asset investment rose 3.4% in the first eight months of 2024 from the same period a year earlier, compared with an expected 3.5% expansion. It grew 3.6% in the January to July period.
Cash-strapped local governments issued bonds at a quicker pace last month for construction of major projects, a move that economists believe could spur investment and offer some short-term relief for the economy.
Meanwhile, the troubled property sector remains a major drag on growth. Property investment in January-August contracted 10.2% from the previous year, unchanged from a 10.2% slide in January-July.
While Beijing has ramped up efforts to rescue the housing market, many analysts say much more aggressive steps are needed to help debt-laden developers, and encourage would-be home buyers back to the market.
Analysts at Nomura expect bolder measures to be released in the fourth quarter.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A strike at Boeing has cast doubt on the company’s production goals for the 737 Max and raised the spectre of a cash crunch, as its chief financial officer on Friday said the company would fight to preserve its investment-grade credit rating.
Boeing’s investment-grade rating is crucial to its operations and losing it would be a serious blow, meaning the company could face a punishing increase in borrowing costs given a debt load that has swelled to $53bn. The options to keep it would likely include some kind of securities offering to shore up cash.
About 33,000 workers with the International Association of Machinists District 751 walked out at 12:01am on Friday after rejecting a tentative agreement with the company. Chief financial officer Brian West said Kelly Ortberg, the new chief executive is “personally engaged” in addressing the situation.
In June and July Boeing had been building roughly 25 Maxes a month, with plans to raise that to 38 by the end of the year. But West told investors on Friday that “now, obviously, that is going to take longer”.
“I can’t comment on 38 per month,” he said. “That rate is so dependent on the duration of the strike.”
Boeing’s share price closed down nearly 4 per cent at $156.77.
The company has slowed production of the Max this year as it tries to improve the quality of its manufacturing process. Boeing has been scrutinised by regulators, prosecutors and the flying public since January when a door panel, which was missing several bolts, blew off a commercial jet midflight. The US Federal Aviation Administration has capped the group’s production at 38 a month.
The slowdown has cost Boeing billions in free cash flow. A lengthy strike would impede the company’s ability to deliver planes to customers, further hurting its cash flow.
The credit rating agencies are closely watching Boeing’s deliveries and ability to generate cash. All three have the group rated one notch above junk, on a negative outlook. Moody’s on Friday said it had placed the company on review for a downgrade.
“Boeing’s investment-grade credit rating has limited headroom for a strike,” said Fitch Ratings analyst Dino Kritikos. “If the current strike lasts a week or two, it is unlikely to pressure the rating. However, an extended strike could have a meaningful operational and financial impact, increasing the risk of a downgrade.”
When asked if Boeing may raise debt or equity before early 2025, West said the company had two priorities: keeping its investment-grade rating and stabilising its supply chain and factory floor.
“That last objective just got harder based on last night,” he said. “So we are perfectly comfortable to supplement our liquidity position to support these two objectives.”
West said it has told suppliers which are not behind on their deliveries to stop shipping to Boeing’s factories in Renton, Washington. Supply schedules remain untouched for the group’s South Carolina plant, which builds the 787 and is not unionised.
The work stoppage is “disappointing”, West said, “because things were starting to move in the right direction”.
“We’re working every responsible lever to do what’s right to conserve cash,” he said. “Our expectation — and I don’t have any timetable — is to want to get back to the table and hammer out a deal.”
Falling mortgage rates may, at last, be bringing some relief to embattled homeowners and first-time buyers.
In a market described as “frenetic”, lenders are locked in intense competition for new customers while simultaneously trying to hold on to borrowers already on their books.
On supposedly unlucky Friday the 13th alone, big-name providers such as the Nationwide, HSBC and NatWest reduced their fixed rates. In an unusual move, TSB did so for the second time in a week.
Analysts expect further cuts to come, but brokers say the fear of missing out (FOMO) on better deals is paralysing some borrowers.
Failing to act before their current deal expires leaves them exposed to a much more expensive variable rate.
National obsession
During the last couple of years, mortgage rates have featured in discussions from chats around the dinner table to election debates.
About 1.6 million existing borrowers had relatively cheap fixed-rate deals expiring this year. Hundreds of thousands of potential first-time buyers have been hoping to get a place of their own.
Yet, rates have been volatile and much higher than what was the norm for more than a decade.
The interest rate on a fixed mortgage does not change until the deal expires, usually after two or five years, and a new one is chosen to replace it.
Average rates on new deals are now 5.49% for a two-year deal, the lowest for more than a year. Five-year deals have an average rate of 5.15%, according to the financial information service Moneyfacts.
However, the best, so-called headline, rates are reserved for those borrowing a small proportion of the value of the home (known as loan-to-value). A few are at levels not seen since rates shot up following the mini-Budget in the short-lived premiership of Liz Truss.
“Momentum is really starting to build now and the cuts are coming thick and fast.,” said Emma Jones, managing director at broker When The Bank Says No.
“Borrowers are the winners as lenders seek to compete for all-important market share as we head into the final months of the year.”
‘We took the plunge’
The Bank of England’s interest rate cut in August, with the potential for more to come, is part of the reason for falling mortgage rates.
That came slightly too late for Johnny and Sophie Abbott, whose last mortgage deal expired at the end of July.
Johnny Abbott
Johnny and Sophie Abbott decided to move house
When they spoke to the BBC in March, the couple from Loughborough, who have three children, admitted every option seemed like a gamble.
In the end, they chose to buy a home that needed renovation.
“We took the plunge and can just about deal with the mortgage,” said Mr Abbott. “It will be great when it’s done.”
In June, the Bank of England said three million households would see their mortgage payments rise in the next two years, and about 400,000 mortgage holders were facing some “very large” payment increases.
Yet, typical of many, the benefit is a smaller rise in his monthly mortgage repayments, not a fall. To be blunt, the financial punch won’t hurt as much.
“It’s improved, but my mortgage rate is still likely to double, rather than triple,” he said.
He is expecting to settle on a two-year deal, in the hope of further rate falls. The Bank of England’s next interest rate decision is on Thursday, although analysts are predicting a hold at 5%.
Getty Images
These two cases show that, although things are looking more positive for borrowers, not all are getting an equal benefit. Savers, meanwhile, are seeing the interest they receive worsen.
Brokers say that lenders have been offering the best deals to new, house-purchasing customers, rather than those who are remortgaging.
With relatively few buyers, providers are trying to get a piece of a small pie, according to David Hollingworth, of broker L&C. That includes offering loans at higher multiples of income, up to 5.5 times.
He said that while the lowest rates were “not divebombing”, the market was frenetic.
The market could also improve for remortgagers, he said, as lenders try to hit year-end targets.
Time to act?
Mr Hollingworth said the danger for any borrowers endlessly waiting for even lower rates to come is that they do nothing.
If a fixed deal expires, then borrowers automatically move on to their lender’s standard variable rate – which currently carries an average interest demand of 7.99%, which is two-and-a-half percentage points higher than a new two-year deal.
Adviser Jo Jingree, director of Mortgage Confidence, said people in the process of buying or remortgaging could still switch to a better deal if rates continued to fall before their personal deadline.
“I’ve seen first-hand that customers have been able to achieve revised mortgage offers on the lower rates which will save them money on their monthly payments,” she said.
Borrowers should monitor their rates, particularly a few weeks before their mortgage completes, to ensure they are getting the best possible rate, said Aaron Strutt, of broker Trinity Financial.
He expected rates to keep falling, especially if the Bank of England cuts the base rate on Thursday, or later this year.
With the cost of funding mortgages coming down, some in the industry suggest lenders could have cut rates more quickly.
They say lenders are making smaller price cuts week after week when they could be making larger reductions in one go.
Ways to make your mortgage more affordable
Make overpayments. If you still have some time on a low fixed-rate deal, you might be able to pay more now to save later.
Move to an interest-only mortgage. It can keep your monthly payments affordable although you won’t be paying off the debt accrued when purchasing your house.
Extend the life of your mortgage. The typical mortgage term is 25 years, but 30 and even 40-year terms are now available.
