Once “not a fan” of cryptocurrency, Trump has reversed course and is poised to reap a $100 million windfall from an embattled industry looking for friends in Washington.

In a sharp reversal, former President Donald Trump has embraced the cryptocurrencies he once reviled, looking to outflank rivals Joe Biden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among the technology’s devoted young fan base — and its deep-pocketed executives.

Hours after meeting with bitcoin miners at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Wednesday, the former president said on his Truth Social media platform that cryptocurrency users should “vote for Trump!” because he will stand up to “Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin.”

The declaration came after weeks of concerted outreach to crypto enthusiasts and the people leading the burgeoning industry — and it already seems to be paying off. One bitcoin mining executive who met with Trump told CNBC that his industry has committed to raising over $100 million and turning out more than 5 million voters to help Trump this fall.

But just a few years ago, when Trump was in the White House, he made his thoughts on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies clear.

“I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” he said in a series of social media posts in 2019 while he was still in office. “Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity.”

“We have only one real currency in the USA,” Trump continued, “And it will always stay that way. It is called the United States Dollar!”

Trump maintained that position after he left office and as recently as 2021, when he told Fox Business in one interview that bitcoin “just seems like a scam.” In another interview with the network, he said cryptocurrencies seemed like a “disaster waiting to happen.”

“I don’t think we should have all of the bitcoins of the world out there. I think they should regulate them very, very high,” Trump told Fox Business in August 2021.

Three months ago, in March, Trump told CNBC that his thinking had changed a bit as bitcoin’s price rebounded after a series of scandals and setbacks, saying crypto was becoming increasingly entrenched and that he was “not sure I’d want to take it away at this point.”

By May, Trump had completed his evolution to become a full-throated evangelist of cryptocurrencies in the run-up to the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, where both he and Kennedy spoke.

In a speech to the libertarians that was frequently interrupted by boos and jeers, Trump earned applause for vowing to “stop Joe Biden’s crusade to crush crypto.”

“I will ensure that the future of crypto and bitcoin will be made in the USA, not driven overseas. I will support the right to self-custody to the nation’s 50 million crypto holders,” he added. “With your vote, I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her goons away from your bitcoin. And I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency.”

Because mining requires enormous amounts of energy, Trump now portrays crypto as a national and energy security issue, including for the fossil fuel industry that he has promised to defend.