Ethereum co-founder advises against voting solely based on pro-crypto stance, following a16z founders' support for Trump.

• On Wednesday, Vitalik Buterin, co-creator of Ethereum, advised against electing political candidates solely based on their "pro-crypto" stance.
• At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Buterin's post coincides with Donald Trump's rally as he positions himself as the pro-crypto candidate for president.
• The day after Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announced plans to make significant donations to political action committees supporting Donald Trump's campaign, a16z employees were informed of the decision.

On Wednesday, Vitalik Buterin, co-creator of Ethereum, advised against electing political candidates solely based on their "pro-crypto" stance.

""Politics is a complex game that goes beyond winning the next election, and your words and actions have a significant impact on various factors," Buterin stated in a blog post, emphasizing that even Putin and the Russian government have shown a willingness to embrace cryptocurrency."

Buterin's post coincides with Donald Trump, who has positioned himself as the pro-crypto candidate for president, rallying members of his party at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, and a day after venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz announced plans to make significant donations to political action committees supporting Donald Trump's campaign.

In an episode of "The Ben & Marc Show," Horowitz claimed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have been opposing the a16z co-founders every step of the way, employing "very nefarious means."

"Horowitz stated that over 30 of their companies have been sued, but they are losing almost all these lawsuits. The issue is that startups lack the financial resources to fight the U.S. government, which is effectively destroying the industry."

In this election cycle, Fairshake, a super PAC backed by crypto's top companies, has become one of the top-spending PACs. Out of the $160 million in total contributions it has received, 94% can be traced back to just four companies: Ripple, Andreesen Horowitz, Coinbase, and Jump Crypto.

Authoritarian governments often have a common style of being "crypto-friendly," which is worth being cautious about. A notable example of this is modern Russia, as pointed out by Buterin, a Russian coder who created ethereum in his late teens.

Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and the Winklevoss brothers, all prominent figures in the tech industry, have endorsed Trump.

In June 2020, San Francisco hosted a Trump fundraiser that attracted technologists, crypto executives, and venture capitalists, who each paid up to $300,000 for a ticket. The event ultimately raised over $12 million.

By supporting "pro-crypto" candidates solely based on their stance on cryptocurrency, you are inadvertently creating an incentive gradient for politicians to prioritize crypto support in order to gain your backing. This was pointed out by Buterin, who frequently shares his thoughts on existential threats to the broader ecosystem through longer essays.

Buterin did not mention any specific names in his post, whether it was about political candidates or those supporting them.

In April, Trump launched his latest non-fungible token collection on the solana blockchain and has been making increasingly bullish comments on crypto.

He is receiving digital currency donations and has committed to defending the rights of those who choose to self-custody their coins, meaning they don't rely on centralized entities like Coinbase to hold their tokens and instead do it themselves in personal crypto wallets, which may be outside the reach of the Internal Revenue Service. Trump also pledged at the Libertarian National Convention in May to keep Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and "her goons" away from bitcoin holders.

Trump declared that all future bitcoin will be minted in the U.S. if he returns to the White House after meeting with bitcoiners and mining executives who pledged cash and votes to him.

On Monday, the Republican presidential nominee included Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice president, a move that many viewed as a positive development for the crypto industry. Vance has been a proponent of relaxed crypto regulations and disclosed in 2022 that he personally owns cryptocurrency.

In contrast to the Joe Biden White House, which has been viewed as tough on crypto, the SEC has intensified its actions on the sector under President Biden, and the U.S. has emerged as one of the most active regulators of penalties and legal actions against crypto companies, even without clear rules from Congress.

As the crypto industry became increasingly angry at the SEC for arresting and prosecuting them, more people like Vance saw an opportunity to take a stance against a crypto-skeptical Biden administration.

Some Biden allies are worried enough about the perception that Biden is anti-crypto and Trump is pro-crypto to directly address the issue to senior White House officials.

The Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee on July 27 will feature Trump as its keynote speaker.