During a speech before the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Republican candidate for U.S. president Donald Trump asserted that the country would be the “world capital of crypto and Bitcoin.”
In addition to reiterating his stance on digital assets, Trump also proposed—at the suggestion of Telsa CEO Elon Musk—a new government efficiency commission that will audit the federal government.
“I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government, making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump said. “We need to do it.”
Musk agreed, tweeting in response to reports of Trump’s remarks, “This would unlock tremendous prosperity for America.”
Trump told the audience that in 2022, fraud and improper payments cost taxpayers an estimated “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“As the first order of business, this commission will develop an action plan to totally eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months,” he said. “This will save trillions of dollars. For the same service you have now, trillions of dollars are wasted, and nobody knows where it went.”
The commission would be headed by Musk, Trump said. Musk has come out in strong support of the former president, which Trump acknowledged as “nice” and “very much appreciated.”
Trump added Musk had agreed to head the task force, jokingly saying that the billionaire—who currently runs five companies including Twitter/X, Tesla, Neuralink, xAI, SpaceX, and the Boring Company—is not very busy.
“If he has the time, he’s a good one to do it,” Trump added.
Trump also promised to cut regulations, saying that if reelected, his administration would eliminate a minimum of 10 old regulations for every new regulation.
“Instead of attacking industries of the future, we will embrace them,” he told the audience. “Including making America the world capital for crypto and Bitcoin.”
Trump’s stance on cryptocurrency has evolved considerably between his first term, his failed run for a second term, and his latest bid for the White House.