Former President Donald Trump addressed a bitcoin conference Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, promising that the United States will become a "bitcoin-mining powerhouse" if he is elected to a second term in the White House.
The 2024 Republican presidential nominee, who had notably been skeptical of cryptocurrency, made a stop at the event before his rally with running mate J.D. Vance on Saturday night in Minnesota. The addition of the Ohio senator to the GOP ticket was a welcome development for proponents of cryptocurrency, and Trump became the first president “ever to address a Bitcoin event.”
“If I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future, we’ll keep 100%,” Trump said. “I hope you do well, please. This will serve in effect as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”
Trump also used the speech as an opportunity to denounce President Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020, and Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he will likely face in the 2024 general election, for their “anti-crypto crusade”
“I pledge to the bitcoin community that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ anti-crypto crusade will be over,” Trump said. “The moment I’m sworn in, the persecution stops and the weaponization ends against your industry.”
The GOP nominee said the United States will become the “undisputed bitcoin-mining powerhouse” and told attendees that “you will not have to move your family to China.”
"[If] we don't embrace bitcoin and cryptocurrency, China will," Trump said. "I want [it] to be mined, minted, and made in the USA. It's not going to be made anywhere else. And if bitcoin is going to the moon, as we say … I want America to be the nation that leads the way."
Trump also noted that the federal government has almost 210,000 bitcoin, or 1% of the “total supply that will ever exist.”
“As we implement these reforms, bitcoin and crypto will grow our economy, cement American financial dominance, and strengthen our entire country long into the future. Many Americans do not realize that the United States government is among the largest holders of bitcoin.”
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The former president also reiterated his commitment, if he is elected, to commuting the sentence of Ross Ulbricht , who is serving life in prison for various charges related to his role as the owner of Silk Road, an online black market. Trump was met with applause at the Libertarian National Convention in May for pledging to commute his sentence, and the bitcoin community reciprocated that encouragement.
Trump’s second stop on Saturday is a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It is his third rally since a gunman attempted to assassinate him on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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