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Donald Trump Sounds More Constructive on Bitcoin

Three years ago, the ex-president labeled bitcoin as a "scam."

Trump comments on BTC (Jon Tyson/Unsplash)
Trump comments on BTC (Jon Tyson/Unsplash)

Former U.S. president Donald Trump continued to come around on Bitcoin (BTC), calling it an "additional form of currency" in a CNBC appearance.

"There has been a lot of use of that [bitcoin] and I'm not sure that i would want to take it away at this point," he added. The comments represent a stark change in stance from 2021 when Trump labelled bitcoin as a "scam" that threatened the U.S. Dollar as the world reserve currency.

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Trump's comments this morning follow remarks he made last month when he said bitcoin had "taken on a life of its own" and that it will probably need regulation.

To be sure, the GOP standard bearer for the 2024 presidential election is a long way from becoming a Bitcoin maxi or showing anything other than a passing interest in the crypto. "I want one currency, I want the dollar, I don't want people leaving the dollar," he continued, before moving on talking about the great interest shown in some of his NFT offerings. "People were going crazy for these things [NFTs], and so many of these were bought with this new cryptocurrency and I couldn't believe the amount," he said.

Trump added that he "would not allow countries to go off the dollar" because when the U.S. loses that standard it will "be like losing a revolutionary war."

Trump has regularly been posting screenshots of his bullish odds on Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market.

UPDATE March 11, 2024 (13:57 UTC): Add Trump's quote on not allowing countries to leave the dollar.


Oliver Knight

Oliver Knight is the co-leader of CoinDesk data tokens and data team. Before joining CoinDesk in 2022 Oliver spent three years as the chief reporter at Coin Rivet. He first started investing in bitcoin in 2013 and spent a period of his career working at a market making firm in the UK. He does not currently have any crypto holdings.

Oliver Knight