President Donald Trump held the White House’s first ever crypto summit Friday – complete with a cameo from the Winklevoss twins, who famously sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over the social media site’s founding.
It was the latest move in Trump’s embrace of bitcoin and cryptocurrency, which started during his 2024 campaign as a way to increase his support among Silicon Valley.
Since then Trump has become part of the crypto business, notably alongside 18-year-old son Barron, who turned the president on to a number of tech bro podcaster types, whose audience helped the Republican win the election.
‘High IQ individuals around this table, that’s what I always say, we need high IQ,’ Trump gushed at the group gathered in the White House’s State Dining Room Friday afternoon.
The session was led by David Sacks, the White House’s crypto czar, who called attention to comments made by one of the Winklevoss twins, who were portrayed in the 2010 film, The Social Network.
‘Actually Cameron, I think you said something earlier that I thought was really profound, you said that a year ago you thought that it would be more likely that you’d end up in jail than at the White House,’ Sacks relayed to Trump. ‘Not to put you on the spot, cause you didn’t do anything wrong, but that was the environment.’
Cameron, who was seated next to his twin Tyler, then spoke.
‘Sure, that was actually Tyler who said that,’ Cameron Winklevoss said, prompting laughs. ‘But, yeah, we never thought we would get attacked the way we did in our backyard after trying to do the right thing for so many years.’
‘High IQ individuals around this table, that’s what I always say, we need high IQ,’ President Donald Trump said Friday at the White House Crypto Summit
Cameron Winklevoss (left) and Tyler Winklevoss (right) – of Facebook movie fame – attended the White House’s Crypto Summit on Friday afternoon
He added that the twins had always ‘raised the bar with respect for regulations.’
‘We’ve always felt that the U.S. should lead in bitcoin in crypto and it’s our to sort of lead and win and it’s wonderful what President Trump has been doing with this,’ Cameron added.
Tyler then had his say.
‘I was just going to say thank you Mr. President,’ he told Trump.
‘Cameron takes credit for a lot of things I say, so it’s not the first time. But the U.S. won the internet and the U.S. should win crypto, so thank you for your leadershp on this,’ Tyler added.
Over the summer, Trump cemented himself as the candidate who would be kinder to crypto.
He promised to make the U.S. the world’s ‘crypto capital’ and rid the country of the Gary Gensler, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, who took a heavy hand to the emerging industry.
In September, Gensler told the BBC that the crypto industry was ‘rife with fraud and hucksters and grifters.’
18-year-old Barron Trump, photographed on Inauguration Day, is a ‘Web3 Ambassador’ for the Trump crypto enterprise World Liberty Financial
‘I pledge to the Bitcoin community, the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden’s and Kamala Harris’s anti-crypto crusade will be over. It will end. It will be done,’ Trump said in July.
‘The moment I’m sworn in, the persecution stops and the weaponization ends against your industry,’ the Republican nominee added.
The Winklevoss twins each pledged $1 million donations to the Trump campaign and also sent money to Elon Musk’s PAC, which funded Trump’s coffers as well.
Weeks after Trump’s election victory, Gensler announced that he planned to resign in January, which is tradition.
At the same time, the Trump family was getting into the crypto business, launching a ‘$TRUMP’ meme coin in January.
His World Liberty Financial lists the president as its ‘Chief Crypto Advocate,’ with Barron, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump serving as the ‘Web3 Ambassadors’ for the company.
Ahead of inauguration day, there was also the first-ever Crypto Ball – which included a number of MAGA personalities and a performance from Snoop Dogg.
