U.S. economist Paul Krugman has castigated former president Donald Trump and running mate J.D. Vance’s recent embrace of crypto, calling digital assets a “Ponzi scheme” with limited economic value.

Trump recently drew exultant cries from bitcoiners at the annual Bitcoin Conference 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, where his headline speech promised to support a veritable wish list of crypto industry demands. Trump not only promised to transform the U.S. into a “crypto capital,” but he also pledged to remove Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – an act presidents cannot carry out – as well as create a strategic national crypto stockpile. “The rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry,” Trump reassured crypto investors.

While Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, was also invited to speak at Bitcoin Conference 2024, she opted not to. However, Harris and President Joe Biden’s teams in recent weeks have conducted outreach to the crypto industry, which has emerged as a big spender in the 2024 election cycle.

Crypto PACs have poured millions into campaigns for pro-crypto candidates this year. Trump lured in well-heeled crypto donors to private events for $800,000 apiece in Nashville, and raised $21 million for his presidential campaign while speaking to crypto donors looking to potentially influence bitcoin policies in Washington.

Trump's aggressive fundraising from the crypto industry has drawn skepticism, however. “The truth is that bitcoin, which was introduced 15 years ago, an eon in tech time, remains economically useless,” Krugman said about Trump’s shift toward the cryptocurrency. “A couple of exceptions to its uselessness are money laundering and extortion.”

Krugman also reproached Trump’s bitcoin stockpile proposal as little more than “a government bailout for a scandal-ridden, value- and environment-destroying industry.”

Despite the criticism, multiple pro-crypto Democratic congressmen recently issued a letter to the Democratic National Committee calling for their party to shift positions on digital assets.

“Crypto and blockchain technologies have an outsized impact in ensuring victories up and down the ballot,” Democrats said in a letter. “It is imperative that the party’s platform reflects the potential benefits of digital assets and blockchain technology.”

Democratic figures like Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren have famously come out against crypto, unveiling legislation to regulate the industry and highlighting the links between crypto and the illicit drug trade.