Former President Donald Trump called Bitcoin a “scam against the dollar” and urged US regulators to take action to monitor it on Monday.
During an interview with Stuart Varney on the Fox Business Network, Trump was asked about his thoughts on cryptocurrency and the US stock market, which the ex-president said he was avoiding currently as well.
“Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam,” Mr Trump said.
“I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar,” Mr Trump continued. “I want the dollar to be the currency of the world.”
The comments are some of the harshest from a current or former US official about cryptocurrency and its viability as an alternative to standard currency, though the former president made similar dismissive comments about Bitcoin and efforts from Facebook to develop its own cryptocurrency in 2019.
In posts to his now-deleted Twitter account, Mr Trump assailed Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as “highly volatile” in July of 2019, while adding that he was “not a fan” of them.
“Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity,” he added at the time.
Bitcoin’s price dipped slightly as news of the former president’s comments hit social media Monday morning, and sat just below $36,000 per coin at the time of this publication.
The former president’s comments followed a conference hosted by supporters of Bitcoin in Miami, Fla. over the weekend, videos of which made it onto Twitter as the event descended into chaos when a supporter of the rival Dogecoin currency stormed the stage and was removed by security.
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