Trump Pledges Bitcoin Will Be Mined, Minted, and Made in the US to Woo Crypto Community

Donald Trump, once a cryptocurrency skeptic, has vowed to be a “pro-bitcoin president” if elected in November. The Republican nominee seeks to gain support from an industry frustrated by US regulations.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of crypto and bitcoin is wrong, and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said to cheers at a conference in Tennessee.

He likened cryptocurrencies to the growth of the “steel industry of 100 years ago” and said, “Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty, and independence from government coercion and control.”

Trump promised that, if elected, he would not allow the US government to sell its bitcoin holdings.

“This will serve as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile,” Trump said.

His proposal is more limited than one offered the day before by third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who aims to build a stockpile of 4 million bitcoins.

“If we don’t embrace crypto and bitcoin technology, China will, other countries will, and they’ll dominate. We cannot let China dominate,” Trump said Saturday.

“If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted, and made in the USA.”

Acknowledging electricity prices as a key factor in cryptocurrency mining locations, Trump vowed to make US energy the cheapest “of any nation on Earth” by increasing fossil fuel production and nuclear energy.

“We’ll do it in an environmentally friendly way, but we will create so much electricity that you’ll be saying, ‘please, please, Mr. President, we don’t want any more electricity.’”

He also promised to fire Gary Gensler, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on his first day in office, a statement that received a roaring approval from the crowd.

“Let me say it again. On day one, I will fire Gary Gensler!” he said, with the crowd erupting again.

Trump also targeted Vice President Kamala Harris, who is set to replace Biden atop the Democratic ticket following the 81-year-old president’s exit from the campaign.

“We have to fight and we have to win, and I pledge to the bitcoin community that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s anti-crypto crusade will be over. It will end,” Trump told the crowd.

“You’re going to be very happy with me.

100 Days to US Election

The 100-day sprint to the US election began Sunday, marking the final act of a campaign transformed by an assassination attempt and the stunning exit of President Joe Biden.

After weeks of infighting and despondency over Biden’s candidacy, Democrats have consolidated behind Vice President Kamala Harris, reshaping the race to November 5, which was fast becoming Republican nominee Donald Trump’s to lose.

Harris’s candidacy has reinvigorated her party’s campaign, which announced Sunday that it had raised $200 million – mostly from first-time donors – since Biden dropped out and endorsed his vice president a week ago.

A new Wall Street Journal poll showed Harris had closed Biden’s six-point deficit with Trump to just two points – well within the margin of error – with boosted support from Black, Latino, and young voters.

However, Republican pollster David Lee, who conducted the Journal survey, cautioned Democrats not to get carried away by the race tightening.

“Donald Trump is in a far better position in this election compared to a similar time in the 2020 election,” Lee said.

If the race is a dead heat nationally, the advantage still lies with Trump given the mathematics of the Electoral College system for electing the president.

Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton came despite losing the nationwide popular vote by nearly three million ballots.