Trump: Bitcoin miners can help stabilize grid energy supply

Author: David Pan, Bloomberg; Compiler: Wuzhu, Golden Finance

Matthew Schultz, executive chairman of crypto mining company CleanSpark Inc., said Donald Trump told attendees at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night that he loves and understands cryptocurrency, adding that Bitcoin miners help stabilize energy supply to the power grid. Schultz added that Trump said he would speak for miners at the White House.

In recent weeks, the former president has increasingly emphasized Bitcoin and other digital assets as a way to attract new voters on the campaign trail. He has taken advice from Elon Musk and pledged at the recent Libertarian Party convention to commute the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. His campaign team now also accepts cryptocurrency donations.

Riot Platforms Inc. CEO and director Jason Les also met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, according to a post on X.

The meeting comes as crypto miners face a backlash over a range of issues, including climate change and its impact on local power grids.

Democrats have been leading the charge to increase scrutiny of bitcoin miners’ energy consumption and carbon emissions, while Texas Senator Ted Cruz has been a high-profile supporter of the industry.

Meanwhile, the crypto industry is working to support candidates seen as supporting digital assets, including through growing donations to the Fairshake political action committee.

Since 2021, the U.S. has become a hub for bitcoin mining. The energy-intensive process involves using power-hungry computers to verify encrypted transactions on the bitcoin blockchain and earning rewards in the form of tokens.