Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reiterated his support for Bitcoin and crypto during an interview with popular livestreamer Adin Ross on August 5.
The former president reaffirmed statements he made during his recent keynote at the Bitcoin2024 conference, saying the US should promote innovation in the digital asset sector.
He further stated that the federal government should not attempt to sell off its crypto holdings in response to speculation on the matter.
Leadership role
The discussion follows a major transaction last week in which a wallet identified as belonging to the US government transferred $2 billion worth of Bitcoin to an unidentified wallet, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.
Some believe the government wants to offload the tokens, which has exacerbated a market already gripped by extreme fear amid economic and geopolitical tensions. However, others have noted that the transfers may be linked to the US Marshalls Service recently choosing Coinbase to take custody of the assets.
Trump emphasized the importance of digital assets, describing crypto as a “very modern currency” comparable to artificial intelligence (AI) in its transformative potential. He said:
“It’s like AI: ‘Do you love it or hate it?’ – if we don’t do it, China is going to do it, or other people are going to do it, and we can’t lag behind, and crypto is good in that area.”
Trump argued that the US must play a leading role or risk losing it to a rival nation like China. He also criticized the current government’s negative attitude towards crypto and the recent large-scale transfers.
“It’s something they shouldn’t do because they should be trying to build it. If we don’t do it, China will, and other places will, and they’ll do it anyway.”
Nations and Bitcoin
Trump’s comments come amid a broader debate over the role of crypto in the US economy. He recently floated the idea of using some of the government’s Bitcoin assets to pay off the national debt, which currently stands at $35 trillion.
Trump alluded to the potential of Bitcoin’s appreciation against the US dollar to gradually extract value from the fiat system and convert the country’s wealth into a more stable store of value.
Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Lummis has introduced legislation requiring the US to purchase up to 200,000 Bitcoin annually for the next five years, illustrating the growing political importance of crypto.
Bitcoin was trading around $54,144 at the time of writing, down 6.84% in the past 24 hours, based on CryptoSlate facts.
Bitcoin Market Data
At the time of printing 01:04 UTC on August 6, 2024Bitcoin is number 1 in terms of market capitalization and so is its price down 7.12% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $1.07 trillion with a 24-hour trading volume of $108.97 billion. Learn more about Bitcoin ›
Summary of the crypto market
At the time of going to press 01:04 UTC on August 6, 2024the total crypto market is valued at € $1.91 trillion with a 24-hour volume of $246.97 billion. Bitcoin’s dominance currently stands at 55.86%. Learn more about the crypto market ›