Former President Donald Trump embraced cryptocurrency on Tuesday for its ability, in his words, to help make the U.S. “energy dominant.”

His comments, made six years after he declared cryptocurrency a “fraud,” mark a new argument to slow a wave of coal-fired power plant retirements and expand natural gas growth as he runs for office against President Joe Biden. who made combating climate change a centerpiece of his first term.

Cryptocurrency mining operations can use thousands of high-powered computers that devour enormous amounts of electricity, making them perhaps a natural ally in Trump’s defense of fossil fuels.

“Bitcoin mining could be our last line of defense against a CBDC,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, referring to the central bank’s digital currency. “Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin only helps China, Russia and the Radical Communist Left. We want all remaining Bitcoins to be MADE IN THE USA!!! This will help us become ENERGY DOMINANT!!!””

In 2019, Trump tweeted that cryptocurrency could be used for illegal activities and that its value was “highly volatile and air-based.”

Cryptocurrency mining currently accounts for up to 2.3% of total electricity use in the US, according to the US Energy Information Administration. This demand could represent “strains on the electrical grid during periods of peak demand, the potential for higher electricity prices, as well as effects on energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,” the EIA concluded. Cryptocurrency mining in the US has accelerated dramatically since 2019, in part due to strict new rules against it in China.

But it also presents a potentially lucrative opportunity for the fossil fuel industry, which Trump has promised to help if elected. Large crypto mining operations, which can be equipped with 20,000 computers or more stacked in shipping containers, are sometimes located near energy sources such as coal or gas plants. Others have used hydropower and methane-derived electricity at waste facilities.

The Biden administration has focused on regulating the cryptocurrency industry, saying it could increase the cost of electricity for households and contribute to climate change. Last year, Biden proposed a tax on cryptocurrency miners that would equal 30% of their electricity costs.

“Crypto companies do not have to pay the full cost they impose on others in the form of local environmental pollution, higher energy prices, and the climate impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions,” said a House fact sheet. White in time.

Biden continues to show caution towards the industry. He recently vetoed a bill supported by Republicans and some prominent Democrats who would have repealed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto guidance.

The Biden campaign declined to comment.

Trump, however, has increased his attacks at Biden, using cryptocurrency as a political cudgel.

But there is also significant bipartisan concern about the industry.

On Wednesday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick – a close Trump ally – wrote on X that Texas is being crushed by crypto miners. Demand on the state’s electrical grid is expected to almost double, to 150,000 megawatts, in just six years.

While artificial intelligence and business growth are responsible for some of this, he said most of the demand comes from crypto mining and data centers, which are “destroying our network and turning off the lights.”

“We need to take a closer look at these two industries,” Patrick wrote. “They produce very few jobs compared to the incredible demands they place on our network.”

Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes said the industry would not face regulation if Trump were elected.

“Innovators in cryptography and others in the technology sector are under attack from Biden and Democrats,” he said in a statement. “While Biden stifles innovation with more regulation and higher taxes, President Trump stands ready to encourage American leadership in this and other emerging technologies.”

Trump’s comments on Tuesday came a day after he met with representatives of cryptocurrency companies at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Among them was Brian Morgenstern, a lobbyist for a bitcoin company called Riot Platforms and a former Trump administration official. Morgenstern was Trump’s deputy communications director and deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury Department.

“President Trump will protect your right to own Bitcoin, to mine Bitcoin, to transact with Bitcoin, and for many of us, to work in the Bitcoin industry,” Morgenstern wrote in an opinion piece this week in Bitcoin Magazine. “We believe it will support Bitcoin miners’ ability to help revolutionize the financial and energy sectors in the United States and maintain American economic leadership into the future.”

Reporter Jack Quinn contributed.

This story also appears in Power wire.

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