Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a Democratic candidate for president, stood on the world’s biggest bitcoin conference in Miami in May and told the gang, “I’m not an investor and I’m not here to offer investment advice.” Then he announced he could be accepting campaign donations in bitcoin.
What Kennedy didn’t tell the gang was that his family had invested in bitcoin recently, in accordance with a financial disclosure form he filed June 30. On the twelfth page of the report, Kennedy lists a brokerage account that held between $100,001 and $250,000 value of bitcoin.
The situation could represent a conflict of interest if Kennedy were touting bitcoin on the campaign trail while his immediate family held the cryptocurrency, in accordance with Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel for watchdog group Residents for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
For the reason that conference, Kennedy has continued to tout bitcoin.
In late June, he tweeted: “Bitcoin will not be only a bulwark against totalitarianism and the manipulation of our money supply, it points the best way toward a future wherein government institutions are more transparent and more democratic.” The tweet features a video to his Miami speech where he describes how he could be pro-bitcoin as president.
The filing says the bitcoin holding made lower than $201 in income but doesn’t say when it was purchased. Kennedy and his family could have made the investment after the May bitcoin conference. Nor does the filing say who purchased it or how much the family can have spent on their original investment. It also doesn’t say whether or not they sold their bitcoin holding.
The bitcoin holding is listed under a piece on the shape that includes assets that may also belong to spouses and dependent children. It is meant to reflect holdings from the “preceding calendar 12 months and current 12 months to filing date,” in accordance with the Office of Government Ethics. Kennedy is married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines and has six children. Kennedy signed and filed the disclosure form to the Office of Government Ethics at the tip of last month, in accordance with the document.
It’s likely that Kennedy himself is the only real owner of the bitcoin investment and the ownership is actually current as of June 30, when he filed his disclosure, Canter told CNBC.
“Under a conventional conflict of interest evaluation, Hines’ financial interests are imputed to him,” Canter said.
“I’m really concerned that he’s speaking at this conference, touting this investment to potential voters while the family has a history of owning bitcoin. It’s like he could do the identical thing for Procter and Gamble,” she added. “There isn’t any difference in my mind from a conflicts perspective.”
Kennedy’s campaign didn’t immediately comment after multiple requests, including inquiries about whether he or Hines continued to take a position into bitcoin as he cheers on the cryptocurrency while running for president. After Kennedy’s appearance in May on the bitcoin conference, CNBC inquired whether Kennedy had any crypto holdings. “Mr. Kennedy has no crypto holdings,” a spokesman for the campaign said on the time.
Kennedy said on the Miami bitcoin conference that if he were to turn out to be president he would “make certain that your right to carry and use bitcoin is inviolable.”
President Joe Biden’s administration has waged an aggressive fight with regard to cryptocurrencies. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler told CNBC in June “we do not need more digital currency” after the SEC sued crypto exchange Coinbase for allegedly acting as an unregistered broker and exchange.
Bitcoin’s price has seen an upswing recently, hitting a 13-month high on Thursday, despite parts of the crypto industry seeing headwinds.
Kennedy’s campaign has seized attention from several wealthy supporters, whilst he stays far behind Biden in Democratic primary polls. A Quinnipiac survey from June shows Biden with 70 % support amongst Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, while Kennedy nabs 17%. Kennedy, 69, is the son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, each of whom were assassinated within the Nineteen Sixties.
Kennedy’s pro-bitcoin stance has aligned him with several top tech investors, akin to billionaire and bitcoin enthusiast Jack Dorsey, with several of them offering support for his presidential run. Others include David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya and Omeed Malik.
Kennedy, who has come under fire for spreading misinformation about vaccines at large, has a history of boosting bitcoin. His nonprofit, Kid’s Health Defense, also has an interest in cryptocurrencies.
Their 2021 tax records shows under the “investments” section that the group had crypto valued at over $78,000. A spokeswoman for CHD, which reportedly played a key role in pushing back on Covid vaccines and helping elevate Kennedy’s profile before he ran for president, previously told CNBC that the cryptocurrencies listed weren’t “investments” but, in truth, “donations.” The CHD website shows that bitcoin is considered one of the accepted cryptocurrencies to donate toward the nonprofit group.
In April, before he began running for president, Kennedy tweeted what seemed to be an endorsement of bitcoin being a tool to avoid impacts from a struggling U.S. economy.
“Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin give the general public an escape route from the splatter zone when this bubble invariably bursts,” Kennedy said.
In May, days before he took the stage the Miami bitcoin conference, Kennedy tweeted: “Cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, together with other crypto technologies are a serious innovation engine. It’s a mistake for the U.S. government to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere.”
A day later he tweeted: “Bitcoin has been a lifesaver for people’s movements all over the world.”