Donald Trump has struggled in a ‘painful’ interview on cryptocurrency – and he kept trying to change the topic.

Donald Trump has spoken (Image: Getty)

The former president has spoken about changing the ‘old’ financial system and moving to cryptocurrency during an X Spaces interview from Mar-A-Lago, just one day after a gunman was detained by police after attempted assassination.

Trump, who recently revealed ownership of over $1 million in cryptocurrency and earnings of $300,000 from sales of branded Bibles, spoke to social media influencer and entrepreneur Farokh Sarmad, who has 3m followers on his @goodlife Instagram page.

When asked why it’s so important for America to lead in crypto adoption, he replied: “It’s so important. It’s crypto. It’s AI. It’s so many other things. AI needs tremendous electrictiy capabilities beyond anything I ever heard.”

Trump pledged to turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet” but found it hard to handle the concept, admitting he has to be taught by 18-year-old son Barron, who was supposed to speak but went missing.

“Barron knows so much about this,” said Trump. “Barron is a young guy. He’s got four wallets or something. I’m saying ‘explain this to me.’ He knows it so well. And Eric and Don. I have a lot of respect for them.”

When asked direct questions, Trump changed the topic to AI needing electricity or China. At one stage, he made a comparison between crypto and his granddaughter learning Chinese.

He said: “It’s sort of like a language. I have a beautiful granddaughter, Ivanka’s daughter, Arabella. She speaks perfect Chinese. Their other two children speak perfect Chinese. From a nanny who was from China.”

Trump slammed the Biden/Harris administration for being “extremely hostile” to crypto, despite initially claiming it was a scam himself.

“My attitude is if we don’t do it, China will. We have to be the biggest and best,” claimed Trump.

“The value of this whole thing is bigger than the top 20 corporations. The numbers are gigantic. It suffers from some credibility lapses.

“It’s very young and growing. If we don’t do it other countries will do it. We have the advantage because it’s me, I do believe in it.”

Barron trump has been helping his father (Image: Getty)

Responding to the interview, one critic said: “Trump doesn’t know a damn thing about crypto and it’s painfully obvious.”

“If this whole Trump space is just crypto grifting after a 2nd assassination attempt is absolutely sad and pathetic,” added another.

A third wrote: “Let’s be honest Trump doesn’t even know what crypto is or why he’s being asked to shill it.”

Trump’s stance on cryptocurrency has evolved since his presidency, when he initially dismissed it as a scam.

He has now adopted a different approach, with his campaign promoting the idea of building a “crypto army.”

During a live stream with Adin Ross, the 78-year-old said: “And I know a lot of very good people that are really into that world and into that market. They’re smart, they’re good people, and they think it’s going to be very beneficial.”

In last year’s financial disclosure, Trump estimated the value of his social media company, Truth Social, to be between $5 million and $25 million. This year, he valued the Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. at over $50 million.

He has suggested the government create a strategic reserve of Bitcoin and has vowed to block the creation of a Federal Reserve-administered Central Bank Digital Currency, a digital form of central bank money that would be available to the public.