Digital currency is part of the Republican Party's platform.

I'm David Brancaccio in New York.

The GOP wants to be clear it is pro-cripto-cur currency.

The Republican platform adopted earlier this week says the party will

quote defend the right to mine Bitcoin and ensure every American has the right to

self-custody of their digital assets.

And after deriding Bitcoin at times during his term in office, former President Trump is now

scheduled to deliver the keynote address at a Bitcoin Convention in Nashville this month,

Marketplace's Matt Levin reports.

There is some natural ideological overlap between parts of the crypto community and the more

libertarian wing of the GOP.

Lee Reiner teaches economics at Duke University

and is a cryptosceptic.

The premise of crypto is that it's money outside of the government.

But Reiner suspects the real reason the GOP has embraced crypto so conspicuously is the same reason some congressional Democrats have recently become crypto curious.

The crypto industry has raised and spent an incredible amount of money influencing elections.

As of last month, the crypto industry has set aside 160 million for political spending, according to

Bloomberg, calling for more crypto regulation not only risks a barrage of well-funded attack ads,

but also losing some voters who may care more about the price of Bitcoin than, say, abortion or immigration.

Kristen Smith is CEO of the blockchain association, a crypto trade group.

The fact that we have this active and engaged, highly communicative community is a strength

for the industry and something that will

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