Crypto-friendly Vivek Ramaswamy is out of the U.S. presidential race

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who was one of the only candidates to have a designated crypto plan and garnered some support from crypto executives, is out of the race. 

Ramaswamy announced the suspension of his candidacy late on Monday following results from the Iowa caucus. 

"The people spoke loud & clear about who they want," Ramaswamy posted on Monday night on X. "Tonight I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Donald J. Trump and will do everything I can to make sure he is the next U.S. President. I am enormously proud of this team, this movement, and our country."

Former President Donald Trump clenched a win in the caucus and was followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, according to reports. 

Crypto support

Ramaswamy had garnered some support from crypto advocates over the past year, including Messari CEO Ryan Selkis.

"Vivek is now the most influential libertarian in the country. And he’s pro crypto. Trump knows he’s an asset," Selkis posted on X in response to Ramaswamy's drop out of the race. 

Trump has not said publicly who he would pick as his vice president running mate if he wins the nomination. Trump has dabbled in NFTs, releasing a collection of 45,000 of them in December 2022. A year later, Trump unveiled another set of digital trading cards that give fans the chance at scoring perks like dinner with the former president, or nabbing a piece of the suit he wore when taken in by Georgia police after being indicted in August.

Ramaswamy's stance

Crypto has been brought up a few times by Republican presidential candidates over the past year. Ramaswamy said last month that his plan in part would block regulation of self-hosted wallets and allow for the "freedom to innovate without regulatory overreach." Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, in his capacity as the governor of Florida, blocked the use of CBDCs in his state in May. 

Ramaswamy also criticized SEC Chair Gary Gensler during a debate last month. The SEC chair has been consistent in his stance that many cryptocurrencies are securities and need to follow securities laws, while urging crypto exchanges to register with his agency. 

"I think it's nothing short of embarrassing that Gary Gensler, the current leader of the SEC, in front of Congress could not even say whether Ethereum counted as a regulated security or not," Ramaswamy said during the debate. "This is just another example of the administrative state gone too far."