In addition to pledging support for Bitcoin (BTC) miners if he gets elected, as well as referring to them as the “last line of defense” against a central bank digital currency (CBDC), it seems that the former United States President Donald Trump believes the maiden cryptocurrency offers even more benefits.
Indeed, Bitcoin miners who attended Trump’s closed-door event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, have said that the (repeat) president hopeful thinks Bitcoin can help the US win the artificial intelligence (AI) arms race against China, according to a report on June 13.
Bitcoin miners’ views
Specifically, representatives from Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA), Terawulf (NASDAQ: WULF), CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK), Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ), and others had a sit-down with Trump, and Riot CEO Jason Les said one topic was making Bitcoin a priority in the US.
Furthermore, one of the participants was Bill Hagerty, a ranking member on the Senate’s Banking Committee and Finance Subcommittee and a vocal supporter of the crypto industry, who helped steer the conversation toward Bitcoin, energy, job creation, and the strategy to beat China in the AI arms race.
In particular, Jayson Browder, senior vice president of Government Affairs at Marathon Digital Holdings, highlighted that:
“When you talk about the grid and energy production, a lot of the conversation was around AI and the amount of energy that’s going to be needed there. (…) We were very impressed by how in the weeds [Trump] was on some pretty dense topics when you’re talking about artificial intelligence, data centers, energy buildout, and transmission.”
At the same time, according to Matthew Schultz, CleanSpark’s executive chairman and director, who also attended the working group at Mar-a-Lago:
“[Trump] wants to keep all of the remaining Bitcoin mining in the U.S. and out of China. (…) For him to be legitimately engaged in the Bitcoin industry and understanding the way that mining works was really awesome.”
Trump’s crypto stance
Hours after the meeting concluded, Trump posted on his Truth Social account that “Bitcoin mining may be our last line of defense against a CBDC,” which many politicians consider a threat to the US, as Finbold reported on June 12, as well as adding that:
“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!!!”
As a reminder, Trump has recently made crypto assets one of the main points in his presidential campaign, voicing support for the industry and starting to accept crypto donations, whereas the Bitcoin miners who met with him said that his opponent, the current President Joe Biden, hadn’t been willing to hear them out.
Meanwhile, AI is starting to take center stage in the crypto sector, with AI tokens like Render (RNDR), Fetch.ai (FET), SingularityNET (AGIX), and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) growing in popularity and price, bringing profits to their holders, as one investor recently witnessed, profiting an impressive $13 million or 345% from their ‘Nvidia of crypto’ (Render) trades.
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