Former President Trump delivered a keynote address at the world's largest bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, over the weekend and called for the U.S. to become the "crypto capital of the planet" and a "bitcoin superpower of the world" if he wins the election.
"If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and made in the USA – it's going to be, it's not going to be made anywhere else," Trump said.
During his speech, Trump said he would replace Gary Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who has carried out a regulatory crackdown on the digital assets industry in an effort to root out bad actors. Trump said he would establish a crypto advisory council and that his administration would have a more favorable regulatory approach to digital assets.
"We will have regulations, but from now on the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry," Trump said. "We will appoint a new SEC chair who believes America should build the future, not block the future, which is what they're doing."
The SEC under Gensler initially rejected spot bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs), but was forced to relent after a federal court found the agency hadn't done enough to justify its rejection of the financial products.
The first spot bitcoin ETFs were approved in January, while the first ethereum ETFs were approved by the SEC last week.
Trump recently selected Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his running mate. During his time in the Senate, Vance has sponsored and voted in favor of pro-crypto legislation and holds bitcoin in his investment portfolio. Vance has also been a staunch critic of Gensler's regulatory approach to digital assets.
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In his remarks, Trump said it makes sense for the federal government to retain its holdings of bitcoin and other digital assets it has seized as a reserve.
"For too long our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: Never sell your bitcoin," Trump said. "If I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires in the future."
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Under the federal government's current policy, crypto assets that are seized by federal law enforcement agencies in the course of investigations are auctioned off to investors rather than held in the government's accounts.
Trump has warmed to the crypto industry in recent years – even going so far as to have his campaign begin accepting donations in crypto – after he previously criticized digital assets during his first time in the White House. He wrote in a 2019 social media post that their "value is highly volatile and based on thin air."
FOX Business' Timothy Nerozzi and Eleanor Terrett contributed to this report.
