Trump calls for US to be ‘crypto capital of the planet’ in appeal to Nashville bitcoin conference
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Former President Donald Trump On Saturday plans were outlined to wholeheartedly embrace cryptocurrency If elected for a second term, he will tell hundreds of cheering supporters of the digital tokens that he wants the US to become a “bitcoin superpower” under his leadership.
In his keynote address at a bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, the Republican presidential candidate promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” for bitcoin using the currency currently held by the government.
He also promised to fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler if they get elected and create a crypto advisory board, they tease the crowd by asking if anyone wanted to join.
“We will have rules, but from now on the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not by people who hate your industry,” he said.
Trump’s speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference showed how radically his stance on cryptocurrencies has changed over time.
He wasn’t always a fan of cryptocurrencies, writing on social media in 2019 that their “value is highly volatile and based on thin air.”
He has embraced digital currencies in recent years and in May his campaign began accepting donations in cryptocurrency.
During the nearly 50-minute speech, Trump repeatedly sought to contrast his support for cryptocurrencies with the Biden administration’s support attempts to regulate the industryand told the crowd that the federal government was “blocking your path.” Trump said he wanted cryptocurrency to be “mined, minted, and created” in the United States.
The former president appealed to bitcoin fans by pointing to the seizure of the digital token by US law enforcement.
“They took it from you,” he said. “So, as I take steps to transform that vast wealth into a permanent national asset for the benefit of all Americans, I reiterate today my commitment to commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.”
Ulbricht created the underground drug-selling website Silk Road, but was sentenced to life in prison after a judge found him responsible for six overdose deaths linked to his website. Some of the nearly 800 people who packed downtown Nashville to hear Trump speak wore “Free Ross Day One” hats in a nod to Ulbricht’s prison sentence.
Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn called Trump’s announcement of a strategic bitcoin reserve a “historic moment.”
Trump’s comments came a day after the independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave a speech at the conference and also presented the launch of a strategic bitcoin reserve.
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Ali Swenson, an editor with the Associated Press in New York, contributed to this report.