Donald Trump further detailed his cryptocurrency platform on stage in Nashville. Bitcoin Bitcoin
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He is scheduled to take the stage an hour after his scheduled address on Saturday to deliver his 2024 convention address.
In a speech that mostly covered broad election-related policies, former President Trump also outlined more specific promises related to Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency industry.
In a speech that drew a roar from the audience, the candidate surprised Trump by announcing that if elected, he would replace SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Gensler is a common enemy of the crypto industry, which generally sees his policies as unnecessarily punitive toward crypto companies, as Gensler sees most digital assets as illegally issued securities.
According to Arcam data, President Trump also announced that the U.S. would stop selling 213,000 bitcoins (valued at about $14.5 billion) held by the government through previous executive actions.
“It is the policy of my administration… to retain 100% of all bitcoin that the United States government currently owns or acquires in the future,” Trump announced. “This will be the centerpiece of the Strategic National Bitcoin Reserve… It has been taken from you.”
Trump also commuted the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and reiterated past promises to block the U.S. government from developing any more central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Trump has also spoken favorably about developing stablecoins in the U.S. and supporting the Bitcoin mining industry.
“I will be the candidate who supports the innovation that America needs and our citizens deserve, and Bitcoin,” Trump pledged in his closing remarks.
Bitcoin’s price fell during the speech, reaching $66,600, about $3,000 below its daily high of around $69,400. The price recovered shortly after the speech, reaching around $68,500, according to The Block’s Bitcoin price page.
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