Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is quickly becoming known as the cryptocurrency candidate.
The businessman has embraced the alternative digital currency, and is gaining a lot of respect in the tech world because of it.
Now, he’s saying that he wants all “remaining Bitcoin to be made in the U.S.”
In recent years, the crypto industry has been increasingly trying to influence politicians in America as regulators have ramped up their scrutiny of the digital currencies.
This comes as multiple scandals have occurred in recent years, most infamously the overnight failure of FTX. This and other bankruptcies at major firms have exposed misconduct and fraud, spooked investors and caused millions of people to lose a lot of money in the process.
Because of this, U.S. politicians have called for the cryptocurrency industry to be regulated in some way, shape or form.
Congress members have been wrestling with what to do about crypto, but it’s unlikely that any formal regulations will come to fruition before next year.
Many economists and investing experts have professed that whenever crypto regulation does come, it’s likely to come as part of “a broad package” of other financial initiatives.
In the meantime, Trump wants to back Bitcoin, which is the largest cryptocurrency in the world.
He posted on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday:
“VOTE FOR TRUMP! Bitcoin mining may be our last line of defense against a CBDC. Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin only helps China, Russia and the Radical Communist Left. We want all the remaining Bitcoin to be MADE IN THE USA!!! It will help us be ENERGY DOMINANT!!!”
There are a lot of things to unpack from Trump’s post.
First, what Trump is referring to with “mining” is how people — or groups of people, rather — are able to confirm transactions on the cryptocurrency’s blockchain. It requires large supercomputers to solve very complex cryptographic problems.
One of the main issues of these “mining farms” is that they suck up loads of energy. The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration estimates that crypto mining operations consume as much as 2.3% of all electricity usage in the U.S.
If the U.S. were to somehow be the home of all Bitcoin mining operations in the world, it would require even more energy than it already does.
Of course, no politician has control over whether mining operations locate in the U.S., seeing as the digital currency isn’t regulated. Plus, it’s basically known as the “wild west” of currency, seeing as it can be mined from anywhere in the world.
It’s certainly possible that if Trump were to win the White House during this November’s elections, he could issue executive orders that would be favorable to cryptocurrency.
But, Congress would likely stall on any real legislation that would be pro-crypto, or that would incentivize mining operations to locate here. Another major concern is that many of these operations are based in China, meaning incentivizing them to come to the U.S. could be a threat to the country’s national security.
