Donald Trump, once a cryptocurrency opposer, has since planned to be a “pro-bitcoin president” if elected in November.

The Republican nominee is seeking support from an industry frustrated by US regulations.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of crypto and bitcoin is wrong, and it’s very bad for our country,” Trump said to cheers at a conference in Tennessee.

The ex-president likened cryptocurrencies to the growth of the “steel industry of 100 years ago”, and said, “Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty and independence from government coercion and control.”

Trump said if he was in the White House, he would not allow the US government to sell its bitcoin holdings.

“This will serve in effect as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile,” Trump said.

The proposal was more limited than one offered the day before by long-shot third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said he would seek to build a stockpile of 4 million bitcoins.