Trump Punts on Crypto Divestment, Says If US Didn't Have Bitcoin 'China Would'

President Donald Trump dodged a question about his willingness to divest from his personal crypto ventures Friday, maintaining that he was interested in crypto before deciding to run again for president—and arguing that he built a crypto industry in America that China would have seized upon if not for his leadership.

Asked by Decrypt whether he would be open to “pulling away from” his “personal crypto ventures” while in office, in the interest of getting crypto legislation passed speedily in coming months, the president deflected. Trump asserted that without him, the American crypto industry as a whole would not currently be flourishing.

“I don’t care about… I have my kids, and they invest in different things. They do believe in it,” Trump said. “But I’m president, and what I did do there is build an industry that’s very important. And you know, if we didn’t have it, China would.”

In recent weeks, Democrats have threatened to withdraw support for key crypto market structure legislation, arguing that the president’s numerous and lucrative digital assets ventures are a deal-breaker and an unacceptable conflict of interest.

Trump did not appear much bothered by such accusations on Friday, arguing that he was interested in crypto and Bitcoin before he decided to run for re-election in 2023.

“I got involved before I decided to run,” he said. “I was in Bitcoin then, not knowing if I was going to do it a third time.”

Editor's note: This story is breaking and will be updated with additional details.