Presumptive 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump on June 12 explained that he wants all remaining Bitcoin (BTC) to be mined in the United States, weaponizing crypto as a new line of attack against President Joe Biden as the former president also embraced the digital industry after several years of doubts.
Trump has majorly adopted crypto in the run-up to the 2024 general election.
Main Facts About Trump Adopting Crypto
While sparking a debate in a late-night post published on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump stated:
“We want all the remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!!”
Trump insisted that Bitcoin, which is acquired via a computational process called mining, ‘may be our last line of defense against’ a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
The former president has previously railed against the concept of a so-called ‘digital dollar’ created by The Federal Reserve – which the central bank has already explored but not expressed a stand on either way – branding it as a “dangerous threat to freedom” and now vowing to block its development if he is re-elected.
Mining the remaining Bitcoin in the United States will also enable the nation to be ‘energy dominant,’ according to President Trump who published his post in block capitals. However, it is not clear what the former president meant by his statement considering that Bitcoin mining consumes, rather than produces, lots of energy.
Trump also targeted Biden, whose administration and Democrat supporters are mainly considered as skeptical or even hostile to the crypto sector.
He explained that Biden’s “hatred of Bitcoin” only helps US enemies like Russia and China, as well as the “Radical Communist Left.”
What Remains Mysterious
The reasoning behind multiple key assertions in Trump’s post – namely that Bitcoin will help defend against a central digital currency that mining will help the United States to become “energy dominant” and that adopting Bitcoin will strengthen the United States against domestic and foreign enemies – remains unclear.
It is not clear how adopting crypto would deter the Fed from setting up a digital US currency and its potential mass adoption of cryptos in the US might even encourage it to move rapidly on the matter.
By energy dominance, Trump is not referring to the energy consumed when mining crypto but to the regulations set in place to govern where the energy comes from. Bitcoin mining is extensively energy-intensive and was estimated to account for up to 2.3% of national electricity consumption in 2023.
In recent years its huge environmental footprint has come under increased scrutiny. Biden’s proposed budget for 2025 has proposed ways to mitigate mining’s environmental impact, including a 30% tax on miners’ total energy costs.
This could come in line with Trump’s other criticism of Biden’s environmental policies, His national security angle is quite hard to parse, mostly given Bitcoin’s well-documented potential to support illegal activity, sanctions dodging, and terrorism. Could it be possible that Trump is increasing the speculative privacy concerns that surround a central bank issuing its assets in an industry famous for its privacy and anonymity?
Trump Met Industry Operators
Trump allegedly met with Bitcoin miners at Mar-a-Lago on June 11. This meeting, which included leaders from Bitcoin mining company CleanSpark Inc. and Riot Platforms, is his most recent overture to the crypto industry – and the tech sector in general – as he aims to establish crypto as a dividing line between him and President Biden as they vie for second terms in the White House.
He allegedly told attendees that he loves and understands cryptos, as highlighted by Bloomberg, citing CleanSpark chair Matthew Schultz. Schultz said that Trump promised to advocate for Bitcoin miners in the White House at the meeting and said miners could help stabilize the energy supply from the grid.
Will he deliver on his promise if he gets a second time in the White House?
