Who Is David Bailey? Bitcoin Magazine CEO and Trump’s Crypto Advisor

Bitcoin advocate David Bailey has been involved in the industry since its early years. He is the CEO of Bitcoin Magazine, one of the oldest Bitcoin publications, founded in 2012 by Vitalik Buterin and Mihai Alisie.

Bailey is also a general partner at UTXO Management, a board member at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, and the founder of Nakamoto Holdings, a Bitcoin treasury company. During the 2024 elections, he worked with U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign, advising on crypto policy.

Bailey was born in 1990, as mentioned in his X/Twitter bio. Aside from that, not much is publicly known about his personal life, but his work and views on crypto have drawn a lot of attention. 

What’s David Bailey’s Background 

Based on his LinkedIN profile, David Bailey attended The University of Alabama from 2009 to 2013. He double-majored in Finance and Entrepreneurship and completed double minors in Mandarin and Spanish, with a focus on general Finance.

In an interview with crypto podcast Empire, Bailey said he first time invested in Bitcoin in 2012, during his senior year of college. As Bailey put it, he knew that if he missed the moment, he’d regret it for the rest of his life.

In May 2013, Bailey started a Bitcoin blog, sharing educational content about what Bitcoin is and how it works. In 2014, when Vitalik Buterin and Mihai Alisie decided to leave the magazine to build Ethereum, Bailey bought Bitcoin Magazine from them.

Bitcoin Magazine is now owned by BTC Inc., which also organizes The Bitcoin Conference, the world’s largest Bitcoin event, launched in 2019.

Since September 2019, Bailey has also been a general partner at UTXO Management, a Bitcoin investment firm. UTXO has backed several crypto startups, including the crypto exchange Kraken, Bitcoin financial platform Lava, analytics platform Bitcoin Layers, and others.

In 2025, Bailey founded Nakamoto, a Bitcoin treasury company aimed at offering financial products, acquiring foreign businesses, and building a global network of Bitcoin-native companies. In May 2025, the American publicly traded medical company KindlyMD announced a merger with Nakamoto. Nakamoto reportedly raised over $300 million amid plans to go public.

Bailey has a distinct vision for a Bitcoin treasury: rather than simply holding BTC, Nakamoto could sell its holdings under certain circumstances and buy back stock to increase profits without affecting the broader market.

How David Bailey Influenced Trump's Crypto Agenda 

During the 2024 presidential campaign, David Bailey and his friend came up with the idea to pitch Bitcoin to Donald Trump and managed to get in touch with his campaign manager. In his first term as president, Trump was openly skeptical of Bitcoin, saying he didn’t consider Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency to be real money.

But Bailey believed there was room to shift that view. He laid out a case for how supporting Bitcoin could strengthen the U.S. economy, attract innovation, and create new jobs, without threatening the dollar’s dominance on the global stage. He argued that embracing Bitcoin could help the U.S. lead in a rapidly evolving digital economy.

The pitch worked. Trump was convinced, and for the first time, crypto entered his campaign agenda. Bailey began advising Trump on crypto policy and helped organize high-level fundraising efforts, rallying major Bitcoin investors and industry leaders. His efforts played a key role in Trump’s change of stance. In July 2024, Trump attended the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, where he announced plans to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet.

Following Trump’s presidential win in November 2024, Bitcoin broke above $100,000 for the first time in history, driven by renewed optimism about a more crypto-friendly White House. Just a few months later, in March 2025, Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, funded with around 207,000 bitcoins previously confiscated by the government, marking a historic moment for digital assets in the U.S.

Currently, the U.S. government aims to develop clear guidelines for the crypto industry to support its growth, improve investor protections, and encourage responsible innovation.

David Bailey Believes in Hyperbitcoinization 

David Bailey believes Bitcoin will become the world’s dominant financial asset—a shift known as hyperbitcoinization. He expects Bitcoin to reach $1 million per coin within the next four years, driven by increasing adoption and weaknesses in traditional financial systems.

Within the next four years, Bitcoin will be the most widely held asset in the world,” “This isn’t a special one-off moment—it’s the changing of the guard of the world order.

– Bailey said in a Bitcoin Magazine interview.

Bailey believes this shift will give more people access to financial tools, reduce dependence on central banks, and make the global economy more inclusive. For investors, it could offer major opportunities as Bitcoin grows both as a store of value and a medium of exchange. 

Debate Over Political Influence in Crypto 

David Bailey is believed to be a key figure who orange-pilled Donald Trump and helped influence a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment in the U.S. However, there’s controversy around supporting politicians solely based on their stance toward crypto.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin previously published an article arguing that electing candidates simply for being “crypto-friendly” could harm the industry in the long run. He suggested that voters should consider a politician’s overall ideology, not just their crypto positions.

Others disagreed, saying that voting for pro-crypto politicians is essential to advancing good crypto policy and protecting the industry’s future, especially as government decisions begin to play a bigger role in shaping the direction and adoption of blockchain technologies.

David Bailey’s Role in Bitcoin’s Institutional Era

David Bailey has become one of the most recognizable names in crypto. His work spans media, investing, policy, and entrepreneurship. He’s best known for acquiring Bitcoin Magazine and co-founding major initiatives like UTXO Management and Nakamoto Holdings, projects that have helped shape how people understand and use Bitcoin today.

In 2024, Bailey played a key role in bringing Bitcoin into U.S. politics. He was involved in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and helped shift Trump’s stance toward a more crypto-friendly approach. His influence contributed to major milestones like the creation of the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and efforts to build clearer regulations for the industry.

At the same time, Bailey’s political involvement has sparked debate in the crypto community. Some support bringing Bitcoin into national policy, while others worry it conflicts with Bitcoin’s roots in decentralization and independence from government control.

Bailey is a strong believer in hyperbitcoinization—the idea that Bitcoin will eventually become the world’s dominant financial asset. Whether or not that happens, his work has already helped move Bitcoin beyond tech circles and into boardrooms, campaigns, and national strategies.

As crypto continues to grow, voices like Bailey’s will likely keep shaping its future. With over a decade of experience, his perspective remains an influential part of the conversation about where Bitcoin is going and how it might get there.