Bitcoin mining will thrive under a Trump administration—MARA CEO

Fred Thiel, the Chairman and CEO of MARA, formerly Marathon Digital Holdings, took the stage at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville to discuss the future of the mining industry amid the 2024 United States Presidential election cycle.

In a panel consisting of fellow mining executives Zachary Bradford, CEO of CleanSpark, and Jason Les, CEO of Riot Platforms, Thiel explained that "The attack vectors for crypto are going to be energy policy and banking as they always have been," before citing government sabotage programs to crush Bitcoin (BTC) like Operation Chokepoint 2.0.

"However, I think that Republicans have kind of seized the day on this, and I think under a Trump administration, you're going to see Bitcoin mining flourish. Under a Harris administration. We have no idea what the energy policy is going to be."

Fred Thiel also expressed optimism that the Democrat Party is slowly opening up toward crypto, citing bipartisan support for the repeal of SAB-121, which was subsequently vetoed by Joe Biden.

CEO of Riot Platforms Jason Les cast doubt on the likelihood of pro-crypto policy coming from a potential Harris administration, arguing that her policies are unlikely to deviate from the current administration's anti-crypto stance. Les concluded his statements on the shifting political landscape by saying: "We don't need anything, we just don't need an active campaign to fight against us."

The 2024 Presidential Election

The recent decision by Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 Presidential race has created a toss-up, as Vice President Kamala Harris is widely expected to be the 2024 Democrat frontrunner.

So far, Harris has not revealed anything about her crypto stance or what digital asset regulations would entail under a potential Harris administration. However, investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban claimed the presumptive Democrat nominee was "far more open" to the crypto industry than is commonly believed.

Meanwhile, President Trump continues to bill himself as "the crypto President", making headlines for promising to protect things like self-custody and the Bitcoin mining industry in the United States, arguing that the mining industry should not be driven offshore to foreign competitors.