Key Takeaways
- Pompliano links larger government handouts to gains in bitcoin, gold, and land.
- Trump’s $5,000 pledge depends on Republican victories in both chambers.
- Bitcoin held near $78,000 in the initial trading response to the pledge.
Trump’s Cash Pledge Fuels Pompliano’s Bitcoin Case
A $5,000 check could put cash in Americans’ pockets, but Anthony Pompliano sees the potential payoff extending to owners of bitcoin, gold, and land. Pompliano is chairman and CEO of Procap Financial, a Nasdaq-listed firm that holds bitcoin on its balance sheet. His Sept. 10 post on X tied larger government handouts to higher asset prices. Pompliano wrote:
“Trump announced yesterday that he is going to give out $5,000 stimulus checks. The more money he hands out, the higher bitcoin, gold, and land will go.”
On Sept. 9, speaking at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Dallas, Trump promised to send $5,000 to every adult American citizen if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections.
The proposal would require congressional approval, and Vice President JD Vance later said the payments would not go to the wealthy, suggesting tariff revenue could fund them. A Sept. 10 White House statement described the proposed payment, called the Trump Dividend, as a way to share what the administration characterized as the country’s economic gains.
Bitcoin Holds Its Ground as Stimulus Hopes Return
The prospect of government checks revived a familiar bitcoin argument, but the initial price response showed little enthusiasm. The cryptocurrency traded below $78,000 early on Sept. 10, after moving mostly between $77,500 and $78,500 since the previous afternoon. Pompliano’s forecast concerns what future distributions could do to asset prices; the market’s immediate reaction remained subdued.
The pandemic offers a precedent for why cash payments attract attention in crypto markets, though the evidence requires care. In April 2020, crypto exchange Coinbase’s chief executive, Brian Armstrong, shared a chart showing a spike in $1,200 deposits, while a Binance US representative described deposits of the same amount. The figures matched stimulus checks reaching Americans, suggesting some money may have flowed to exchanges without proving its source or subsequent use.
The Bigger Question Is What Dollars Will Buy
Behind the payment debate sits a broader concern for savers: whether holding cash preserves their ability to afford goods and services. Inflation reduces purchasing power as prices rise, which helps explain bitcoin’s appeal to investors seeking an asset with limited supply. Yet scarcity does not eliminate volatility. Whether government payments lift bitcoin depends partly on recipients choosing to invest, alongside wider economic conditions.
Venture capitalist Tim Draper took the dollar argument further on Sept. 10, describing a potential change in how people spend their money. He predicted a potential shift away from dollars if retailers eventually began accepting only bitcoin. His scenario centers on merchants first accepting the cryptocurrency alongside dollars, then demanding it instead. That would move bitcoin beyond an asset bought with government checks and into the everyday transactions those checks help fund.
