Former President Donald Trump and X CEO Elon Musk avoided any mention of Bitcoin (BTC) or cryptocurrency during a highly anticipated interview on X.
The conversation, which lasted over two hours, attracted more than a million listeners and covered subjects ranging from illegal immigration and the economy to artificial intelligence (AI) and global warming.
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Polymarket Participants Expected Crypto to be Mentioned
The interview was closely monitored by participants on Polymarket, a prediction market platform, where users wagered on whether Trump would mention “crypto” during the discussion. The odds of a mention stood at 65%, with over $600,000 staked.
A separate market for the word “bitcoin” saw bets peak at 69%, with approximately $330,000 wagered. Despite the heavy betting, neither term was brought up during the interview.
Polymarket also hosted bets on other potential topics of discussion, including “Tesla,” which peaked at 79% odds but was never explicitly mentioned by Trump. Instead, he referred to the electric vehicle company as “your cars” when addressing Musk.
Donald Trump gave a big interview to Elon Musk in 𝕏
▪️"Putin is a good negotiator. I plan to get along with him again if I become president."
▪️ Biden has a "low IQ." Trump believes the war started because of "stupid actions" by the current president, such as saying Ukraine… pic.twitter.com/MydE0Q7f1K
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 13, 2024
Bettors also placed significant sums on words like “MAGA,” “illegal immigrant,” and “tampon,” with one user, ‘bama1234,’ earning over $1 million for correctly predicting most of the words Trump would or wouldn’t say. Their biggest win came from betting on Trump not mentioning “crypto,” which netted them $336,918.
Cryptocurrency has been a topic of increasing relevance in U.S. politics, especially with Trump’s appearance at the BTC 2024 conference in Nashville to discuss crypto policy. However, it remains largely unaddressed in mainstream discussions, including key events like the first presidential debate in June.
At the annual Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Trump raised over $20 million from industry leaders. He pledged to establish a strategic government reserve of Bitcoin and remove SEC Chairman Gary Gensler if elected.
Meanwhile, the Democratic faction of the crypto industry is mobilizing against former President Trump’s significant influence. The group has launched a pro-Kamala Harris advocacy group, dubbed “Crypto for Harris,” which is set to host a virtual town hall meeting next week.
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Trump’s X Interview Starts with 45-Minute Delay
It is worth noting that the X interview started with a 45-minute delay. CEO Musk attributed the delay to a “massive distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack” on the platform.
He suggested that the attack was an attempt to silence Trump’s voice, stating, “As this massive attack illustrates, there’s a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say.” However, this claim has been met with skepticism.
A report by The Verge, citing an anonymous source, questioned the veracity of Musk’s statement, suggesting a “99 percent chance Musk was lying” about the nature of the incident.
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Disclaimer: Crypto is a high-risk asset class. This article is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute investment advice. You could lose all of your capital.
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