Donald Trump, the former US President and Republican nominee for the White House, has pledged to turn the US into the "crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world" if elected and unveiled a plan to unlock the potential of the fledgling industry.
The former President on Saturday also promised to appoint an advisory council to frame his administration's cryptocurrency policy, fire Gary Gensler, the current head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees the industry; and free a jailed American who ran the Silk Route market, a dark-net platform, by commuting his life-term sentence to time served in jail.
A one-time sceptic who called cryptocurrency -- digital money that is not backed by any central bank -- a "sham", Trump has embraced it in recent months and said in a speech to an annual conference of the industry in Nashville, Tennessee, that Bitcoin -- a type of cryptocurrency -- "stands for freedom, sovereignty and independence from government coercion".
"This afternoon, I'm laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world," he said.
"We'll get it done. If crypto is going to define the future, I want it to be mined and made in the USA. It's not going to be made anywhere else. I want America to be the nation that leads the way. And that's what's going to happen, though, you're going to be very happy with me," the former President added.
Trump's journey from aversion to cryptocurrency to conversion was marked by intense industry outreach to him and to his campaign and donations.
The first real sign of the shift in his thinking came in the Republican party's platform release ahead of the convention in Milwaukee. "Republicans will end Democrats' unlawful and un-American crypto crackdown and oppose the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency," said the platform. "We will defend the right to mine Bitcoin, and ensure every American has the right to self-custody their digital assets and transact free from government surveillance and control."
The SEC has filed more than 80 cases against cryptocurrency industry figures under the Joe Biden administration. The charges range from defrauding customers, misrepresenting assets to making unregistered offerings of cryptocurrency.
"If you are considering a digital asset-related investment, take the time to understand how the investment works and to evaluate its risks," the agency has warned in an investor alert.
An estimated 50 million Americans have invested in cryptocurrency, according to The Digital Chamber, an advocacy group for the industry. Black and Latino communities account for higher rates, the chamber wrote in a recent letter to Vice-President Kamala Harris urging her to include "pro-digital asset" language in her party platform.
Trump has beaten Harris to it and reinforced it with a policy plan received with loud cheering and applause from the attendees.
Trump promised the attendees that not only would his administration frame laws to encourage the cryptocurrency industry but also remove obstacles impeding the generation of electricity which is needed to power it.
"You need tremendous amounts of electricity. You need double the electricity of the entire electricity that we have right now in the United States to dominate. And we'll get that done," he said, adding, "We'll be having power plants built at the sites. We'll be releasing people from certain ridiculous requirements, and we'll be using fossil fuel to make electricity because we're going to have to. We'll be using nuclear power."
The former President left the attendees with a rousing promise, "My job will be to set you free and to let you do what Americans do best, and what you're going to do better than anybody: Win, win, win. You're going to win, win, win, with energy, passion and brilliance, like we have rarely seen before. Our country cannot fail. We're in a failing nation right now, but we're not going to be alone. Our country cannot fail. With your help, we will save our nation. We will restore our Republic. We will make America and Bitcoin, bigger, better, stronger, richer, freer and greater than ever before."
