Robert Kennedy Jr. makes campaign debut at bitcoin conference

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first appearance as a presidential candidate will be at a cryptocurrency conference in Miami this month as the iconoclastic Democrat embraces a controversial industry that environmentalists say is a major contributor to climate change.

Kennedy, the vaccine-skeptic environmental advocate whose uncle was President John Kennedy, has held no public campaign events since launching his Democratic primary bid against President Joe Biden last month in Boston, the hometown of his famous family.

Before stumbling into an early primary state like New Hampshire, Kennedy will kick off the Bitcoin 2023 conference, billed as the “largest bitcoin event in the world,” where tickets start at $899 and the all-access VIP “Whale” pass costs $9,999.

“We asked him to speak after hearing his positive comments about the bitcoin industry,” said Brandon Green, chief of staff for conference organizer BTC Media.

Kennedy will not be paid for his appearance, Green said. And his spokeswoman, Stefanie Spear, said Kennedy would not accept speaking fees for any events during his 2024 presidential campaign.

While many policymakers turned away from the crypto industry after a series of high-profile failures that wiped out retail investors and led to federal fraud charges, Kennedy has positioned himself as one of the nation’s most prominent political champions of cryptocurrency.

Anthony Scaramucci, the crypto-friendly investor who briefly served as former President Donald Trump’s communications director, said Kennedy’s promotion of cryptocurrency could endear him to his millions of devoted users.

“In my mind, there’s this shadow fandom or currently invisible lobby group — and there’s probably currently about 77 million people — of bitcoin or other cryptocurrency holders in the United States,” said Scaramucci, who was quick to say he disagreed with everyone. of Kennedy’s faith. “I think it’s going to be a hot topic in 2024, and I can imagine one of these presidential candidates will embrace bitcoin. And if they do, it will give them an advantage.”

While the bitcoin community has “a libertarian bent by nature” that may not align with most Democrats, Scaramucci said, “these are people who are typically party agnostic.”

The only other political leaders speaking at Bitcoin 2023 are Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — who said he was considering choosing Kennedy as his running mate — Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and the governor of the Indonesian state of West Java.

In a series of tweetsKennedy echoed the libertarian view of cryptocurrency as a tool to fight oppressive governments and hailed it as “a great engine of innovation.”

“Monetary freedom is as important as freedom of speech. Without it we are slaves,” Kennedy wrote. “It’s not strange to imagine that even here in America, one day your bank account could be frozen because of your politics, or comments you’ve made on social media.”

As US regulators look to impose new handrails on cryptocurrency, Kennedy defended the industry from what he called a “extra-legal war on crypto” and suggested that the “FDIC/SEC war on crypto caused failure in [Silicon Valley Bank]Signature and Silvergate banks.”

The stance puts Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who founded the non-profit organization Waterkeeper Alliance, at odds with most other environmentalists, who say cryptocurrencies’ huge energy consumption is a major contributor to climate change.

A major study published last year found that crypto could contribute as much to climate change as the beef or crude oil industry, especially since miners seeking rock-bottom electricity prices often turn to dirtier sources of electricity.

Crypto “miners” use massive data arrays that globally use as much electricity as medium-sized countries like Norway and produce as much e-waste as the Netherlands. US crypto operations use about as much electricity as every home computer or all residential lighting in the US.

The industry has pledged to go green, and other cryptocurrencies have made great strides by switching to a different validation method that requires much less energy. Etherium, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, saw its energy consumption reduced by 99.9% after the switch.

But bitcoin remains both the largest cryptocurrency and by far the biggest polluter, making Kennedy’s decision to speak at what organizers say is a “bitcoin only” conference particularly noteworthy.

“This problem is really limited to bitcoin and maybe a couple of other smaller cryptocurrencies at this point,” said Elizabeth Moran of the environmental group Earth Justice, which works on crypto regulation. “Energy consumption is so high in some places that the consumption bills are skyrocketing for consumers, there is increased consumption of fossil fuels and increased water and air pollution.”

Moran added that “the industry does a lot of greenwashing.”

The White House this week proposed a 30% excise tax on electricity used in crypto mining, which it said would make miners “pay their fair share of the costs imposed on communities and the environment.”

Kennedy opposes the tax as “a bad idea,” suggesting in his Twitter thread that bitcoin’s environmental impact has been cleaned up by nefarious actors.

“Yes, energy use is a concern (albeit somewhat exaggerated), but bitcoin mining uses about the same as video games, and no one is calling for a ban on those. The environmental argument is a selective pretext for suppressing anything that threatens elite power structures,” wrote Kennedy. “It is a mistake for the US government to hobble industry and drive innovation elsewhere. Biden’s proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea.”

Asked to elaborate on his views, Spear Kennedy’s spokesperson said he believes the industry needs to switch to more renewable sources and take other steps to reduce its energy load.

“Energy use is a real problem, but must not be used as an excuse to hobble the currency,” she said.