Former President Donald Trump said over the weekend that he plans to make the United States the “crypto capital” and “bitcoin superpower of the world.”
“The reason I have come to address the bitcoin community today can be summed up in two very simple words: America first,” Trump told the bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
“Because if we don’t do it, China is going to be doing it. Others are going to be doing it. Let’s do it and do it right. My vision is for an America that dominates the future.”
“If we don’t embrace crypto and bitcoin technology, China will; other countries will,” Trump continued. “They’ll dominate, and we cannot let China dominate. They are making too much progress as it is.”
The Republican said he wants the United States to remain at the top in innovation.
“I want the United States to be first in technology, first in science, first in manufacturing, first in artificial intelligence, and first in space,” he said.
“This afternoon, I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet, and the bitcoin superpower of the world, and we’ll get it done.”
“If crypto is going to define the future, I want to be mined, minted, and made in the USA. It’s going to be. It’s not going to be made anywhere else,” Trump continued.
In March 2022, President Joe Biden called on federal agencies to issue reports examining the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies. In total, nine reports were submitted to the White House.
Notably, the White House’s framework states that the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve will consider a central bank digital currency — what has been called a “digital dollar.” The White House has yet to officially endorse the creation of a digital dollar.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell previously said the primary incentive for the U.S. to create its own central bank digital currency would be to eliminate the need for other forms of digital currencies in America. “You wouldn’t need stablecoins; you wouldn’t need cryptocurrencies, if you had a digital U.S. currency,” Powell told Congress. “I think that’s one of the stronger arguments in its favor.”
The reports also encourage regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to “aggressively pursue investigations and enforcement actions against unlawful practices in the digital assets space.”
As the cryptocurrency market has exploded over the past several years, so to have crypto-related crimes. Last month, the SEC charged 11 people for their roles in “creating and promoting a fraudulent crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme that raised more than $300 million from millions of retail investors.” And in February, U.S. officials seized $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin-related to the 2016 hack of crypto exchange Bitfinex.
