Donald Trump, the former president who is expected to run again in 2024, has signaled he would take a more embracing stance toward cryptocurrency if elected to the White House for a second term.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Mr. Trump acknowledged the rising utilization and potential of digital assets like Bitcoin, indicating his Cposition has shifted from the skepticism he voiced while president from 2017 to 2021.
“I’m seeing a lot of crypto being used out there,” Mr. Trump said. “At this point, I’m not sure I would want to try to stop it or take it away.”
While Mr. Trump said he does not personally own any Bitcoin, the decentralized cryptocurrency, he noted that he does accept Bitcoin as payment for a line of sneakers sold under his name and brand.
The comments mark a stark contrast from his administration’s stance just a few years ago. In 2019, Mr. Trump dismissed cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as having “no real value” and criticized their use for facilitating unlawful behavior. His Treasury Department also moved to impose stricter rules and reporting requirements on digital asset transactions.
But the landscape around crypto has changed dramatically since then, with investor appetite surging and companies increasingly looking to facilitate crypto payments or hold digital assets on their balance sheets. The total market value of all cryptocurrencies now tops $1 trillion, up from around $200 billion when Mr. Trump left office.
If elected again, Mr. Trump said he would not try to undermine or eliminate cryptocurrencies, though he maintained his belief that the U.S. dollar must remain the nation’s principal currency.
The United States has just one currency, and it is the greatest currency in the world – the dollar,” Mr. Trump said. “I don’t want any competition for that from crypto or anything else.”
Mr. Trump’s newly open stance aligns him with several other Republicans who are potential 2024 contenders and have expressed support for cryptocurrency. These include the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who has made protecting crypto a key plank of his campaign, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has advocated making his state a hub for digital assets and blockchain businesses.
The Biden administration, by contrast, has taken a more wary approach to crypto amid concerns about consumer protection risks, financial stability threats, and illicit use cases like money laundering and sanctions evasion.
President Biden last year issued an executive order calling for a comprehensive government strategy on digital assets that could pave the way for new regulations. The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, and other agencies are actively exploring the potential issuance of an official U.S. digital currency, an idea Mr. Trump dismissed.
“I don’t favor the U.S. having its own cryptocurrency or digital dollar – we have the greatest currency already in the dollar,” Mr. Trump said. “Why would we ever want to create competition for that?”
With the 2024 presidential race looming, Mr. Trump’s latest comments suggest a potential divergence in how the two parties could approach oversight and policy for the rapidly growing cryptocurrency industry.
For entrepreneurs, investors, and companies in the space, having a former president signal an openness to crypto could bolster confidence that the asset class and underlying blockchain technology would not face an outright crackdown under a future Trump administration.
At the same time, Mr. Trump’s clear preference for the primacy of the U.S. dollar hints that any embrace of cryptocurrency would likely come with limits aimed at ensuring digital assets do not undermine the dollar’s global standing.
As the election cycle heats up, the crypto community and wider public can expect the future of digital money to be an issue that divides the candidates and shapes the policy debate.
