Former U.S. President and presidential candidate Donald Trump has reaffirmed his support for cryptocurrency, emphasizing: “If we don’t do it, China is going to pick it up” and dominate the industry. He revealed that he will launch another non-fungible token (NFT) collection. He stressed that almost all of his previous NFTs were paid in crypto, calling it a “new currency.” Trump emphasized: “It opened my eyes.”
Trump: US Must Embrace Crypto or China Will
Former U.S. President and presidential candidate Donald Trump discussed cryptocurrency in an interview with Bloomberg, published on Tuesday. The interview occurred on June 25 at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Palm Beach, Florida, two days before the first 2024 presidential debate and about two weeks before a failed assassination attempt. Trump was asked about his shift from being a crypto skeptic to gaining favor in the crypto community and advocating that crypto mining should be conducted in the U.S.
“If we don’t do it, China is going to pick it up and China’s going to have it — or somebody else, but most likely China. China’s very much into it. Also, it’s not going away. It’s amazing,” Trump said, noting his interactions with industry leaders, such as during a fundraiser in San Francisco on June 6. The former president stressed:
Now, if I throw it aside, it’s going to be picked up in another country, most likely China — they’re pretty advanced in that sphere. So you have to look at it: what I want, again, is what is good for the country.
Trump proceeded to talk about his non-fungible token (NFT) collections. He explained that with his three NFT collections, most of the payments were in cryptocurrency. “I noticed that 80% of the money was paid in crypto. It was incredible,” Trump emphasized, adding that his NFTs are “very successful.” He noted, “We had one year to sell it out, and it sold out in one day. The whole thing sold out: 45,000 of the cards. And I did it three times.” Trump added:
I’m going to do another one, because the people want me to do another one. It’s unbelievable spirit. Beautiful. But the thing I really noticed was everything was paid in, I would say, almost all of it was paid in crypto, in this new currency, and it opened my eyes.
“So we have a good foundation. It’s a baby. It’s an infant right now. But I don’t want to be responsible for allowing another country to take over this sphere. And so I think we’re going to be good. Also, I’ve gotten to know people in the industry, they’re top-flight people. And you ask Jamie Dimon, Jamie Dimon was, you know, very negative and now all of a sudden he’s changed his tune a little bit,” Trump said.