Donald Trump makes crypto and CBDCs an election issue

This year is the US presidential election. Donald Trump is trying to win votes among Republicans - so he made a promise about cryptocurrencies.

The election campaign in the United States is in full swing. Republican politicians are vying for the presidential candidacy. Also on the agenda: cryptocurrencies. Former President Donald Trump is promising his supporters in New Hampshire that he will not introduce a central bank token, called a CBDC.

There have been plans for this for years, including in the US. CBDCs are already a reality in some countries, notably China. There, the e-yuan was introduced, a token that is increasingly being forced on the population by the government. The criticism of CBDCs: as a cryptocurrency, they represent "programmable money". Critics see this as total surveillance, complete control and censorship of the population.

Donald Trump also plays into this story. Trump says: "As your president, I will never authorize the creation of a central bank digital currency. Such a currency would give the federal government, our federal government, absolute control over your money ... They could take your money and you won't even realize it's gone."

Donald Trump does not have much use for cryptocurrencies. Earlier, he called them "scam". Still, it didn't stop Trump from launching two NFT collections of his own. With success as both sold out quickly.

Donald Trump is one of the most controversial American politicians of recent decades - even in parts of his own party. Trump more often calls for "to fight against the establishment", for example, during the storming of Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. One thing is certain, when Trump says something, the media writes along.