- Tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have backed Donald Trump’s candidacy for President.
- Mark Cuban says Silicon Valley’s support for Trump may be a bet on a rise in Bitcoin prices.
- Cuban said tax cuts, tariffs and the uncertainty surrounding a Trump victory will drive up prices.
Mark Cuban said he has “opposing views” about why Silicon Valley tech giants decided to support former President Donald Trump.
“This is a transaction using Bitcoin,” the “Shark Tank” star said in a post on X on Wednesday.
Cuban explained that the outpouring of support wasn’t because he sees Trump as “a much bigger supporter of crypto.”
“That’s great, but it won’t actually impact the price of crypto. The SEC’s inevitable and necessary changes will make it easier to operate a crypto business,” Cuban wrote.
“What will drive up the price of BTC is lower taxes and tariffs, and history has shown (though not always) that this will create inflation,” he continued.
Trump’s campaign has consistently called for tax cuts and tariffs on China and Europe, two signature economic policies of his last term as president.
But that’s not all, according to Cuban. The billionaire argued that the uncertainty surrounding President Trump’s mercurial approach to foreign policy could lead to a rise in Bitcoin prices.
“Add to this the global uncertainty regarding the geopolitical role of the United States and its impact on the US dollar as a reserve currency, and the conditions could not be more favorable for an acceleration in BTC price,” he said in the post.
Cuban said these factors mean that Bitcoin has become a global safe-haven asset, with countries and people looking to buy the cryptocurrency to protect their savings.
Trump has attracted the attention of tech billionaires this year, in contrast to his first presidential campaign in 2016, when venture capitalist Peter Thiel was one of Trump’s few Silicon Valley supporters.
The Republican candidate currently has the endorsement of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, as well as venture capitalists David Sachs, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
When reached for comment, Cuban told Business Insider that he doesn’t think bitcoin’s rising price is the only factor behind Silicon Valley’s support for Trump.
“But it might be the most rewarding thing to do and the simplest,” he said. “It’s a lot easier to test an app than it is to grow a company in an uncertain environment.”
Cuban is not alone in believing that a second term for Trump could undermine the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s leading reserve currency.
In February, Mark Sobel, chairman of the U.S. Government Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, said tax cuts and tariffs would undermine the dollar’s dominance, despite President Trump’s promises to maintain it.
“Policies and actions speak louder than slogans,” Sobel wrote in a paper earlier this year.
Indeed, Trump’s stance on cryptocurrencies has changed significantly since his first administration: In 2019, Trump said he didn’t like cryptocurrencies because their value was “highly volatile and unfounded.”
However, the Republican candidate appears to have changed his mind about cryptocurrencies. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published on Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. needs to embrace cryptocurrencies to prevent China from seizing and controlling them.
“If I throw it away now, it will be taken over by another country, probably China. They’re pretty advanced in that area,” Trump said. “I don’t want to be responsible for taking over this area for another country.”
Bitcoin prices rose to a two-week high above $62,000 on Monday after President Trump survived an assassination attempt on Saturday.
Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside normal business hours.
