United States presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump has reiterated his support for crypto and endorsed tech billionaire Elon Musk to head a new government task force.
Speaking at the Economic Club of New York on Sept. 5, Trump restated his support for the digital asset industry.
Trump said that, if elected, he would eliminate a minimum of ten old regulations for one new regulation , before adding:
“Instead of attacking industries of the future, we will embrace them including making America the world capital of crypto and Bitcoin.”
Trump went on to thank Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his endorsement adding, “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.”
“We need to do it, and can't go on the way we are now,” he added.
Musk echoed the sentiment in a post on X on Sept. 6 saying “This is badly needed,” and “This would unlock tremendous prosperity for America.”
Musk has agreed to head that task force if he has the time, Trump continued, stating he would be good for the job.
“Elon, because he is not very busy, has agreed to head that task force. If he has the time he's a good one to do it and he has agreed to do it.”
“I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises, No pay, no title, no recognition is needed,” Musk said in an X post on Sept. 5.
Russian-American computer scientist and podcaster Lex Fridman said:
“I hope that whoever wins, Harris or Trump, they'll take you up on your offer to help increase government efficiency.”
One of the first jobs of the new commission would be the development of 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.”
According to the US Government Accountability Office, Federal agencies made an estimated $236 billion in improper payments in 2023, and cumulative federal improper payment estimates have totalled about $2.7 trillion since 2003.
Trump has rebranded himself as a pro-crypto candidate during this campaign as he angles for a growing base of crypto voters.
On Sept. 5, Cointelegraph reported that the Trump family DeFi project, about which very little is known at the moment, wants to spread the use of dollar-pegged stablecoins in decentralized finance.