In brief
- Crypto Twitter was disappointed with both Donald Trump and Joe Biden during last night's debate.
- Both candidates were so unpopular, that some even suggested not voting.
- Bitcoin was also championed as a way out of the perceived political circus.
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The crypto industry doesn’t trust either Donald Trump or Joe Biden to lead the United States, judging by online reactions to the first presidential debate that took place last night.
When Bitcoin was first created by Satoshi Nakamoto, it was no secret the cryptocurrency was born out of a libertarian ideology that rejected central government and promoted individual freedom. Yet there are plenty of crypto figureheads across the rest of the political spectrum. But after last night’s debate, they all seem to be united—against both candidates.
“That was the worst thing I've ever seen, and I wrote ethereum's hexary RLP-encoded patricia tree specification,” said Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, in a tweet.
He wasn’t the only one.
“I'm drunk and still can't overlook the fact that: Biden has made multiple self-contradictory slip-ups. Trump relies upon ad hominems and fallacies to keep Biden off balance. Good night, cringefest,” tweeted Jameson Lopp, co-founder and CTO of Casa, a company that provides a secure home for Bitcoin.
Anthony Pompliano, co-founder at Morgan Creek Digital, tweeted his disappointment about both candidates, saying that it’s “pretty crazy that these are the best two people our country could come up with to be President.”
It didn’t stop there—even former president Obama was caught in the crossfire.
“People are more embarrassed by Trump’s lack of debate decorum than by the thousands more civilians murdered by Obama,” tweeted Voorhees, CEO of crypto exchange ShapeShift, adding that “ if you want to win over the public, your actions matter far less than your charisma. Speak eloquently and you can get away with murder.”
Clearly, crypto Twitter wasn’t satisfied. So much so that there were calls to abstain from voting altogether.
Bitcoin as a political expression
According to crypto Twitter, time is better spent buying Bitcoin than voting for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
“When faced with this “choice,” the noble act is to abstain,” said Voorhees. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, given Voorhees’ libertarian outlook on the world. In 2018, Voorhees very reluctantly accepted the need to implement KYC at ShapeShift, in defiance of every libertarian fibre in his body.
Voorhees is not the only one. Pierre Rochard, Bitcoin strategist at Kraken, not only suggested abstaining, but recommended buying Bitcoin instead. “Voting is a waste of time because you can’t independently verify the results. You have to trust third parties. With Bitcoin, you can verify. Don’t vote, acquire Bitcoin,” he said.
Buying Bitcoin instead of voting is all about civil accountability for Rochard. In another tweet, he said buying Bitcoin is “like voting except you can actually verify that the government does exactly what the law says it should do.”
“REMINDER: Bitcoin is how you opt out of this nonsense,” added Pompliano in a tweet of his own.
Or, in other words, it's a protest vote.