Elon Musk and Donald Trump are discussing cryptocurrency policy as the president increasingly highlights bitcoin and other digital assets as a way to reach new voters in his campaign, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Trump campaign officials have also discussed potentially inviting Musk to speak at the Republican National Convention, but no decision is close to being finalized, said a person familiar with the discussions, who asked not to be identified discussing details of the discussions and said he didn’t know whether anyone has already spoken to Musk personally about the idea.
The moves are the latest examples of how Musk, a Washington strongman whose company has meddled in elections, boasts federal contracts and resists government regulation, is exerting his enormous political influence.
Trump and Musk have discussed how Musk could serve in a broad advisory role if Trump is re-elected in November, but the specific form of the arrangement is still being worked out, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Musk also discussed electric vehicles and the space program with Trump’s allies, issues that directly concern his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, where he is CEO.
Communications between the billionaires have become more frequent in recent months as the campaign has increasingly relied on Musk for insight on cryptocurrency. In March, Musk attended a Trump donor event but indicated after the event that he had no plans to donate to either Trump or President-elect Joe Biden.
The impact of cryptocurrencies
Musk has influenced the price of the so-called meme coin through his social media posts, an appearance on a Saturday Night Live segment about cryptocurrency and, in April 2023, a brief move to replace the X’s home button with an image of a Shiba Inu, the breed associated with the Dogecoin token.
As Trump’s campaign pushes its messaging on cryptocurrency, other industry advocates, many of whom have ties to the tech billionaire, are also trying to catch his attention.
“Only President Trump has a say in what role an individual plays in the presidency,” Trump spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement. “Many of the nation’s most important leaders in technology and innovation are concerned about the damage Biden’s missteps have done to our industry.”
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
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Trump has made multiple statements in support of crypto to voters recently, including in a social media post last week saying he is “very positive and open to crypto companies.” At the Libertarian Party Convention, he promised to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the convicted founder of Silk Road, an online marketplace where customers used crypto to purchase illegal drugs and hacker tools. His campaign is now also accepting crypto donations.
Trump’s recent outspoken support for cryptocurrencies could also help his campaign attract support from several industry political action committees that are raising millions of dollars to elect pro-crypto candidates.
Shared History
Musk and Trump have a checkered history — Musk resigned from two White House advisory councils during Trump’s presidency over the then-president’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord — but in 2022, Musk called the Democrats a party of “division and hate” and said he would no longer vote for them, saying he would “vote Republican” instead.
The two men have much in common, including a penchant for being outspoken on social media: Musk embraces many of Trump’s beliefs, criticizes illegal immigration, claims Biden is trying to bring new voters to the country and has questioned the integrity of U.S. elections.
Vivek Ramaswami, an entrepreneur and ally of Trump, has been trying to repair the relationship between the two men, according to a person familiar with the matter. A representative for Ramaswami declined to comment.
The Biden campaign has aggressively capitalized on reports that Trump and Musk are in discussion about an advisory role and that the Republican is trying to woo deep-pocketed donors.
“While Trump is selling out America to pay his own legal fees and rise to power, billionaires like Elon see him as a sucker. They know that by donating money to Trump’s campaign, they get their own taxes cut while he cuts Social Security and other middle-class benefits,” campaign spokesman James Singer said in a statement Thursday.
Though Musk is the third-richest person in the world, he’s not a big political donor, given his estimated net worth of $202 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Federal Election Commission records show Musk has donated less than $1 million to political candidates since 2009, and he hasn’t donated to this election.
Musk also said he would support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who challenged Trump in the Republican primary, after his campaign expected to receive a check from Musk that never arrived.
Mr. Musk has become a favorite among Trump campaign officials and senior advisers to the former president, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump’s allies were especially impressed with Mr. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter Inc., the former Twitter Inc., which has significantly cut back on content moderation to promote free speech.
