Trump promises to have Elon Musk lead government efficiency task force

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday doubled down on his promise to make “America the world capital for crypto and bitcoin.” 

“I’m pledging today that in my second term, we will eliminate a minimum of 10 old regulations for every one new regulation,” Trump said during an address at the Economic Club of New York Thursday afternoon. 

“We’ll be able to do that quite easily, actually, and instead of attacking industries of the future, we will embrace them.” 

Read more: Memecoin taxes and NFT royalties are paying off for Trump

The Republican presidential nominee added that he intends to create a new task force dedicated to making federal agencies more “efficient” should he win in November. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who publicly endorsed Trump in July, will be the leader of this effort, Trump added. 

“I will create a government efficiency commission tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for drastic reforms,” Trump said. “Elon [Musk], because he’s not very busy, has agreed to head that task force.”

The remarks come as more details emerge about the World Liberty Financial project, which Trump and his sons have promoted in recent weeks. The DeFi project will be built on Aave, officials implied in a post on X, and will involve stablecoins. 

“Our mission is crystal clear: Make crypto and America great by driving the mass adoption of stablecoins and decentralized finance,” World Liberty posted on X Wednesday. 

18-year-old Barron Trump, who recently enrolled at New York University, is reportedly the “DeFi visionary” behind the project. 

Trump last month posted a promotional video on X and tagged Liberty Financial, promising to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.” The former president recently returned to X after being banned from Twitter in January 2021. 

The supposed endorsement is the latest sign that Trump is hoping to win over the crypto crowd this election. 

Trump appeared at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in July. He told the Nashville, TN crowd that should he win in November, he will fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler “on day one.” 

His campaign began accepting crypto donations in May. As of the end of July, two Trump PACs have brought in a combined $4 million in crypto donations, which were converted upon receipt into the stablecoin USDC, Federal Election Commission filings show.

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