There is an often-repeated rule that many crypto fans live by: HODL, or hold on for dear life. It is a crypto slang for buying and holding indefinitely, even when markets go haywire.
Yet dozens of everyday investors quickly answered the call when former President Donald Trump became the first major-party presidential candidate to accept crypto donations in May.
Trump has embraced crypto of late, an about-face from his presidency when he derided it as “based on thin air.”
His campaign revealed last week that it raked in about $3 million in various tokens through the end of June, most of which was donated by crypto industry titans and professional investors.
The individual investors who jumped in say they hope to encourage Trump’s burgeoning support.
These are some of their stories:
Ricky DiMartino, a 40-year-old media specialist for a Christian nonprofit, gave Trump $500 of bitcoin in mid-June.
DiMartino first bought bitcoin four years ago, persuaded by a college friend’s argument on Facebook that bitcoin’s dollar value would go higher.
DiMartino bought a small amount on CashApp—he liked that bitcoin isn’t controlled by a government and transactions don’t need to be approved by a third party. (Those same characteristics can make bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies attractive for illicit activities.)
The Dallas resident voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. When he saw the campaign welcome crypto, he made his first donation to the former president.
“I really wanted to send a message to Trump that bitcoin is a good thing for people, for America, for himself, because he had been critical of it in the past,” DiMartino said. “I wanted to encourage him to see that bitcoin is good.”
Rob Licker, a ticket-vending machine agent for the Long Island Rail Road, opted to donate $100 of a cryptocurrency called XRP to Trump, rather than give up his bitcoin.
The 52-year-old got into crypto in 2017, after watching a Netflix documentary.
He views bitcoin as an investment akin to gold, an asset that will go up in value in part due to its scarcity. Only 21 million bitcoins will ever be created, more than 90% of which have already been mined.
Licker said he voted for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020. Higher prices for groceries and energy bills have led him to rethink his support for the Democrats, so he intends to cast his vote for Trump again.
Due to inflation, Licker said he has already had to sell some bitcoin. He wants to keep his remaining bitcoin and instead opted to donate XRP, a token developed to facilitate cross-border payments. Licker said he wouldn’t base his support of a candidate on crypto policy alone, but he is pleased to see Trump embrace digital assets and has been surprised that the Democrats haven’t.
Because the party supported the growth of the Internet back in the 1990s under former President Bill Clinton, Licker says he thought the Biden administration would do the same with crypto.
“I thought that Biden would be more supportive. I couldn’t be more wrong,” he said.
Gerard Guillemette, an engineer living outside Boise, Idaho, tries to spend his bitcoin whenever he can. Although some investors are betting that bitcoin’s value will go up, Guillemette sees it as a form of payment.
The 61-year-old has donated bitcoin to the Atlas Society, a nonprofit focused on the philosophy of Ayn Rand, and purchased a U.K. soccer club scarf using bitcoin.
He has previously donated to Trump’s campaign and to other Republican political-action committees. When he saw Trump open crypto donations, it brought together his pre-existing support of the Republican nominee with his love of bitcoin.
“It’s a merger of the same interests,” he said. “When you start using something, whoever is offering it is encouraged to keep doing it. If people stopped eating McRibs sandwiches, McDonald’s would stop selling them, but they don’t, so McDonald’s keeps selling.”
