Although BTC failed at $100,000 and the broader market faced a minor 2.1% pullback, U.S. President Donald Trump has doubled down on his pro-crypto stance, calling the asset class “very popular,” “very hot,” and even “much stronger” than the stock market.

The comments were made in a May 4 sit down with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, where Trump fielded questions about his personal crypto holdings, the recent surge of his namesake meme coin, and his administration’s crypto policy stance among others.

Trump’s Crypto Endorsement

When asked about the surprising 58% surge in the TRUMP token’s value following an exclusive dinner invitation to top holders, the President quipped, “I don’t even know that. What did it surge to?” After Welker clarified the price had spiked a lot, Trump scoffed: “Billion dollars?” before brushing off the metric entirely: “Well, that doesn’t mean anything.”

Last week, reports emerged that the uptick in the meme coin’s price may have been engineered, with on-chain data showing large transfers to centralized exchanges. It led many in the community to suspect the team behind the token may have been executing a “pump and dump” move post-dinner invitation. Trump, however, denied profiting from the token, stating bluntly: “I’m not profiting from anything.”

Despite the controversy, what stood out in the interview was Trump’s clear endorsement of crypto’s relevance on the global stage.

“I want crypto. I think crypto’s important because if we don’t do it, China’s going to.” he declared.

He further stressed their staying power, saying, “It’s very popular, it’s very hot,” while suggesting the assets had performed better than the mainstream market during the recent slump triggered by a tariff clash between the U.S. and its major trading partners.

“If you look at the market, when the market went down, that stayed much stronger than other aspects of the market.”

Trump also admitted that his about turn on crypto was because the sector had become very popular. “Millions of people want it,” declared the politician.

The billionaire businessman’s praise of cryptocurrencies came amid reports that a company affiliated with him, Trump Media Technology Group, is looking to embed crypto into its business model.

BTC Holds the Line

Meanwhile, BTC, the king cryptocurrency, jumped to $98,000 last Friday before failing to sustain the momentum and slipping back below $96,000 over the weekend.

The pullback followed a brief run-up from the $93,000–$95,000 consolidation zone that had held strong throughout late April.

Currently trading at $94,666, Bitcoin’s daily volume remains strong, with the last 24 hours seeing about $19.5 billion changing hands as its market dominance stayed above 60%.