Trump Says Politics Also Helped Drive His Shift to Backing Crypto

President Donald Trump said political considerations were part of what drove him to embrace cryptocurrencies, offering his own explanation for his shift on digital assets.

Trump made the remarks at a White House press conference on July 7, Cointelegraph reported. “I got to support crypto for one reason: If we don’t do it, China will,” he said. Trump added that he initially knew little about the sector and was not deeply involved during his first term, but came to view it as a major industry as it expanded.

Politics also played a role. “I got involved a little bit for political reasons,” Trump said. “I realized there are a lot of people who like crypto.” The comments contrasted with his first term, when he called Bitcoin a “scam.”

Trump also framed the shift in business terms. He said he saw money flowing into Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency and concluded the sector had staying power. He also said he had heard China would move aggressively into the space, adding that China would have done so if the US had not.

Trump said his family’s crypto business is unrelated to his policy decisions. Trump and his sons are listed as co-founders of crypto platform World Liberty Financial, or WLFI, and a financial disclosure released on June 30 showed related income exceeded $1.4 billion last year. “I’m not involved in what the kids do,” he said. “We’ve never talked about it.”

Trump also claimed investigations advanced under the Biden administration stopped after he took a strong pro-crypto stance. Since the Trump administration took office, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has withdrawn or settled multiple investigations and lawsuits against crypto companies. Some of those companies are known to have made political donations to Trump.