Top line

Presumptive 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants all remaining bitcoins to be mined in the United States, weaponizing the cryptocurrency as a new line of attack against President Joe Biden, while former president embraces the digital sector even more after years of skepticism.

Trump has increasingly embraced cryptocurrency in the run-up to the 2024 general election.

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Key facts

“We want all remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!!” Trump said late at night publish to his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump warned that bitcoin, obtained through a computational process known as mining, “could be our last line of defense against” a Central Bank digital currency (CBD).

The former president already criticized the notion of a so-called “digital dollar” issued by the Federal Reserve – which the central bank has explored but has not expressed a position either way – labeling it a “dangerous threat to freedom” and promising to block its creation if re-elected .

The remaining bitcoin mining in the U.S. will also help the country be “energy dominant,” Trump said in block capitals, though it’s unclear what the former president meant by that, given that bitcoin mining consumes, in instead of producing significant amounts of energy.

Trump also took aim at Biden, whose Democratic administration and supporters are widely seen as skeptical or until hostile for the crypto industry.

He said that “Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin” only serves to help US enemies like China and Russia, as well as the “Radical Communist Left.”

What we don’t know

The reasoning behind several key claims in Trump’s post – namely that bitcoin will defend against a central digital currency, that mining will help the US become “energy dominant”, and that embracing bitcoin will help the US against its enemies national and foreign – it is not clear. It is unclear how the adoption of cryptocurrency would prevent the Fed from establishing a digital currency in the US, and it is possible that widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies in the US could even encourage it to act more quickly on this issue. By energy dominance, it is possible that Trump is not referring to the energy consumed in mining cryptocurrencies, but to the regulations in place that govern the origin of that energy. Bitcoin mining is notoriously energy intensive and has been estimated it will represent up to 2.3% of national electricity consumption in 2023. In recent years, its strong environmental footprint has been the subject of rigorous scrutiny. Biden’s 2025 budget proposal suggested ways to mitigate environmental impact of mining, such as a 30% tax on miners’ total energy costs. This would be in line with his other criticisms of Biden’s environmental policies. Trump’s national security angle is harder to parse, especially considering bitcoin well documented potential to aid illicit activities, terrorism and sanctions dodging. It is possible that Trump is raising speculative questions privacy concerns around a central bank that issues its own assets in a sector known for its anonymity and privacy.

News peg

trump supposedly met with bitcoin miners at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. The meeting, which included leaders from bitcoin mining firm CleanSpark Inc. and Riot Platforms, is his latest opening to the crypto industry — and the technology sector as a whole — as he strives to establish cryptocurrency as one dividing line between him and his rival Biden as they compete for a second term in the White House. He reportedly told attendees that he loves and understands cryptocurrencies, according to Bloomberg, citing CleanSpark President Matthew Schultz. Schultz told Bloomberg that Trump pledged to be a supporter of bitcoin miners at the White House at the meeting and said miners could help stabilize the network’s power supply.

Main fund

Trump was famously skeptical of the crypto sector when he was president. In 2019, he he said he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies. He he said assets such as bitcoin are “not money”, highly volatile and “air-based”, criticizing their potential to facilitate “illegal behavior” such as drug trafficking and even proposals regulations require companies to collect information about the identity of crypto wallet holders. He has since inverted courserevealing millions in digital assets, accepting campaign donations in cryptocurrencies It is flagellation your own “digital trading cards”.

Tangent

Bitcoin supply is initially limited to 21 million bitcoins, the majority of which (around 90%) have already been mined. The process of mining an individual bitcoin becomes more energy intensive as we approach this upper limit, with the reward for successful mining operations. reduce by half at predetermined intervals. Assuming a consistent halving rate every four years, as has happened in the past, bitcoin is expected to be minted by around 2140. Estimates indicate The US already leads when it comes to bitcoin mining, representing between 35-40% of total production. Data indicates that other leading mining countries include China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada and Germany, although the computational nature of bitcoin mining can make it difficult to determine precisely where the currency is mined.

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Further reading

AxiosTrump takes a 180-degree turn on crypto

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