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-orBhuYiDTy.jpg "Photo of US Republican candidate Donald Trump")
As battles for the US seat intensify, Republican candidate Donald Trump has vowed to be a "Pro-bitcoin' President if elected in November.
Trump, once a cryptocurrency skeptic, sought backing from an industry irked by US regulations under the Republican umbrella.
Cheering the audience at a conference in Tennessee, Trump said,
“The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of crypto and bitcoin is wrong, and it’s very bad for our country."
The ex-president likened cryptocurrencies to the growth of the “steel industry of 100 years ago”, and said “Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty and independence from government coercion and control.”
Trump said if he was in the White House, he would not allow the US government to sell its bitcoin holdings.
“This will serve in effect as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile,” Trump said.
“If we don’t embrace crypto and bitcoin technology, China will, other countries will, they’ll dominate, and we cannot let China dominate.
“If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and made in the USA," Trump added.
He said on his first day in office, he would fire Gary Gensler, the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a frequent target of cryptocurrency industry outrage over his cautiously slow approach to implementing regulations.
“We have to fight and we have to win, and I pledge to the bitcoin community that the day I take the oath of office, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris’s anti-crypto crusade will be over, it will end, it’ll be done,” Trump told the crowd.
