Wall Street Journal: Ordinary people who donated cryptocurrency to Trump

Original author: Caitlin Ostroff

Original translation: Luffy, Foresight News

There’s a universal rule that many cryptocurrency enthusiasts follow: HODL. This is crypto slang for continuing to buy and hold even when markets are in turmoil.

Yet when former President Donald Trump became the first major-party presidential candidate to accept cryptocurrency donations in May, dozens of regular investors quickly answered the call.

Trump recently began accepting cryptocurrency donations, a sharp departure from his attitude when he was president several years ago, when he mocked cryptocurrencies as coming out of thin air. His campaign team revealed last week that as of the end of June, they had raised millions of dollars in cryptocurrency , most of which came from cryptocurrency industry giants and professional investors, but also from ordinary individual investors. Some individual investors said they hope to help Trump gain more and more support. Here are their stories:

Ricky DiMartino, Dallas

Ricky DiMartino, 40, a media specialist for a Christian nonprofit, donated $500 worth of bitcoin to Trump in mid-June. He first bought bitcoin four years ago after hearing a college friend post on Facebook that the value of bitcoin would rise.

Ricky DiMartino donated $500 worth of Bitcoin to Trump in mid-June

DiMartino bought a small amount of Bitcoin on Cash App. He likes Bitcoin because it is not controlled by the government and transactions do not require third-party approval.

The Dallas resident voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. When he saw the campaign was accepting cryptocurrency donations, he made his first donation to the former president.

“I really want to send a message to Trump that Bitcoin is a good thing for the people, for the United States, and for Trump himself,” DiMartino said. “Because he has criticized Bitcoin in the past, I hope he can see the benefits of Bitcoin.”

Rob Licker, Long Island, New York

Long Island Rail Road ticket machine agent Rob Licker chose to donate $100 worth of the cryptocurrency XRP to Trump instead of Bitcoin.

The 52-year-old became involved in cryptocurrencies after watching a Netflix documentary in 2017. He sees Bitcoin as an investment similar to gold, an asset that will rise in value partly due to its scarcity. There are only 21 million Bitcoins in existence, more than 90% of which have already been mined.

Licker said he voted for Trump in 2016 but voted for Biden in 2020. Rising grocery and energy prices made him reconsider his support for the Democratic Party, and he plans to vote for Trump again this time.

Licker said he had to sell some of his bitcoins because of inflation. He wanted to keep the remaining bitcoins, so he chose to donate XRP, a token issued to facilitate cross-border payments. Licker said he would not support a candidate based solely on cryptocurrency policy, but he was happy to see Trump embrace crypto assets and was surprised that the Democratic Party did not do the same.

Since the Democratic Party supported the development of the internet as early as the 1990s under former President Bill Clinton, Licker said he believes the Biden administration will do the same with cryptocurrencies.

“I thought Biden would be more supportive of crypto, but I was wrong,” he said.

Gerard Guillemette, Boise, Idaho

Gerard Guillemette is an engineer in Boise, Idaho. Unlike Licker, Guillemette has been spending his bitcoins as much as possible. While some investors believe that the value of bitcoin will rise, Guillemette sees it as a form of payment.

Gerard Guillemette Supports Trump and Bitcoin

The 61-year-old donated bitcoin to the Atlas Society, a nonprofit focused on the philosophy of Ayn Rand, and used bitcoin to buy a scarf for a British football club.

He had previously donated to Trumps campaign and other Republican political action committees. When he saw Trump publicly supporting cryptocurrency, his support for the Republican candidate and his love for Bitcoin came together.

“It’s a convergence of the same interests,” he said. “When you start using something, you’re encouraged to keep using it, no matter who’s providing it. If people stopped eating McRibs, McDonald’s would stop selling them; but people didn’t, so McDonald’s keeps selling them.”

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