The former president has pledged to establish a bitcoin “strategic reserve” if he wins in November
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to transform America into “the crypto capital of the planet” if he returns to the White House. Speaking at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Miami on Saturday, Trump highlighted the crucial role of crypto in his vision for America’s future.
He promised that the US government would never sell off its bitcoin holdings and would create a bitcoin “strategic reserve,” predicting that the cryptocurrency could eventually surpass gold’s $11 trillion market capitalization.
“For too long, our government has ignored the fundamental principle every bitcoiner knows: Never sell your bitcoin… Today, I’m unveiling my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin powerhouse of the world, and we will achieve it,” Trump declared.
“If elected, my administration will adopt a policy to retain 100% of all the bitcoin the US government currently holds or acquires in the future. This will effectively form the foundation of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile,” he stated.
Trump, who in 2018 tweeted that bitcoin’s value is “based on thin air” and in 2020 cautioned that cryptocurrencies were a “disaster waiting to happen,” has shifted his stance significantly during this election campaign. In June, his campaign started accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
In Miami, Trump assured that under his leadership, the US “will have regulations” on crypto, but emphasized that “the rules will be crafted by those who love [the crypto] industry, not those who oppose it.”
Throughout his speech, Trump repeatedly contrasted his pro-cryptocurrency stance with the current administration’s efforts to “suppress” the industry, arguing that the crackdown on crypto and bitcoin is “detrimental to our country” and “un-American.”
According to a report by Bloomberg, citing official data, the US currently holds around 205,000 seized bitcoins worth approximately $10 billion. Shortly after Trump’s address, Texas senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, proposed legislation that would mandate the US Treasury to accumulate an official federal reserve of 1.5 million bitcoins, valued at roughly $50 billion, over a period of five years.
Prior to Trump’s speech, Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter and CEO of Block, predicted that bitcoin’s price would soar to $50 million per token by 2050, boosting its market capitalization to nearly $1 trillion.
