Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. owns up to $250,000 in Bitcoin (BTC), in contrast to his previous claim that he was not an investor in the leading cryptocurrency.
A record obtained by CNBC shows Kennedy Jr. owned between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of Bitcoin at the end of June. The investment was made after his speech at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in May, when he announced that his campaign would be the first to accept Bitcoin donations in the United States.
During the conference, the candidate also denied investing in Bitcoin. “I am not an investor, and I am not here to give investment advice,” he stated.
The financial disclosure filed on June 30 does not specify when the cryptocurrency was purchased, only that it has returned less than $201 since the investment was made. The filing does not indicate who made the purchase in the Kennedy family, although the candidate’s campaign acknowledged it was Kennedy Jr.
Challenging President Joe Biden, Kennedy Jr. has targeted the crypto community in his campaign. In a Twitter post on May 3, he stated that “cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, along with other crypto technologies are a major innovation engine,” adding that it was a mistake for the U.S. government “to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere.”
Among his wealthy backers is Twitter founder and the Block Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey, who has recently thrown his weight behind the candidate. “He can and will,” wrote Dorsey on Twitter about the candidate’s strategy to defeat his opponents in the upcoming race.
Kennedy Jr. is the son of former Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, as well as the nephew of the 35th President of the U.S. John F. Kennedy. His support comes at a crucial time for the American crypto industry, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is cracking down on crypto businesses in the absence of a proper regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S.
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