During a campaign event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on January 17, former U.S. President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump made a firm commitment against the establishment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States.

In his speech, Trump declared, “Tonight I’m making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny.”

“I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency.”

This statement was received with enthusiastic applause. Reacting to this, Trump said, “I didn’t know you know so much … New Hampshire, very smart people,” before further elaborating:

“Such a currency would give a federal government, our federal government, the absolute control over your money [...] they could take your money, and you wouldn’t even know it was gone.”

He emphasized the threat to freedom posed by such a currency, vowing to prevent its introduction in America.

Trump, who contested the 2020 presidential election results, officially announced his candidacy for the 2024 election in November 2022. The 60th U.S. presidential election is scheduled for November 5, 2024.

Ron DeSantis, the Governor of Florida and a fellow presidential hopeful, had previously made a similar commitment to oppose central bank digital currencies immediately upon taking office.

Since announcing his campaign, DeSantis has consistently trailed Trump in polls by over 10 points.

Another Republican candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, who had introduced a cryptocurrency-centric policy proposal, withdrew from the race following the Iowa caucus on January 15, where he secured about 8% of the votes. He has since officially endorsed Trump.

On the same day as Trump's speech, former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official John Reed Stark commented on the potential influence of the cryptocurrency movement in the upcoming presidential election, suggesting:

“Every presidential contender should immediately appoint an internal Crypto Czar to serve as the crypto-focal point and crypto-spokesperson for that candidate.”

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/donald-trump-former-president-vows-never-allow-cbdc-in-us

https://twitter.com/JohnReedStark/status/1747643544863379876

https://twitter.com/JohnReedStark/status/1747643544863379876

https://twitter.com/TRHLofficial/status/1747824475050000540

https://twitter.com/manofbert/status/1747817820581167133