Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has declared that his nascent political movement, the “America Party,” will embrace Bitcoin, stating that traditional fiat currency “is hopeless.”
This announcement, made on the social media platform X, comes amid a deepening public rift between Musk and President Donald Trump, primarily over the administration’s fiscal policies.
Musk’s plan to form the “America Party” appears to have been catalyzed by his strong opposition to President Trump’s massive tax and spending package, colloquially known as the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Musk has harshly criticized the legislation as being fiscally irresponsible, at one point labeling it the “debt slavery bill.”
This disagreement has seemingly created an irreparable break between the two influential figures.
While the America Party has not yet been officially registered and lacks an official website, Musk has used his posts and retweets from supporters to outline its core ideology.
He envisions a party that champions a pro-tech, pro-free speech, and anti-regulation agenda, while adopting generally centrist policies on other issues.
Musk, a long-time supporter of cryptocurrencies whose companies SpaceX and Tesla both hold Bitcoin (BTC) in their corporate treasuries, sees the digital asset as a key part of this new political vision.
Musk has indicated on X that the party, once formally established, will not immediately field a Presidential candidate.
Instead, its initial focus will be on contesting House and Senate races, aiming to build a political foothold from the ground up.
President Trump, for his part, has not taken kindly to Musk’s political maneuvering.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday evening US time, Trump fired back, stating that Musk had gone “off the rails” and had become a “TRAIN WRECK.”
Crypto markets react to easing trade tensions
While this political drama unfolds, the broader cryptocurrency market experienced a lift on Sunday morning.
Major cryptocurrencies rose after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at the likelihood of upcoming trade deals being finalized before the crucial July 9 “Liberation Day” tariff deadline.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market value, gained over 1%, briefly surpassing the $109,000 mark.
Other major tokens also saw gains: payments-focused XRP and Solana’s SOL token both rose by over 2%, while the popular meme token Dogecoin (DOGE) climbed 3%, according to data from CoinDesk.
Ethereum’s Ether (ETH), the second-largest token, rose 1.5% to $2,550.
The tariff clock is ticking
In an interview with CNN, Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that the US is close to finalizing several trade deals ahead of the July 9 deadline.
This is the date when a temporary pause on higher tariffs, initially announced on April 2, is set to expire.
“President Trump’s going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don’t move things along, then on August 1, you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level. So I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent said, according to Reuters.
He clarified that July 9 remains the firm deadline for negotiations; if deals are not reached, the higher tariffs announced in early April will take effect from August 1.
“We are saying this is when it’s happening. If you want to speed things up, have at it. If you want to go back to the old rate, that’s your choice,” Bessent told CNN, adding that some countries were “foot-dragging” on finalizing deals.
This coercive tactic of imposing tariffs to rebalance trade relations and reduce the US trade deficit has been a central pillar of President Donald Trump’s economic policy since he took office earlier this year.
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