President-elect Donald Trump plans to make America a leader in the cryptocurrency space through investments and “sensible” regulations.

Eric Trump said his father “is aware that every country in the world accepts crypto,” noting that both he and the president-elect have “been a big fan of crypto for a long time.” interview with CNBC (CMCSA-9.51%) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

“He wants to make America the crypto capital of the world,” Trump said of his father. “He made that very, very clear.”

Trump said America risks being “left behind” if it doesn’t start increasing its investment in digital assets. He pointed to the United Arab Emirates as an example of a country that has embraced crypto and enacted regulations that have helped spur innovation and investment in the growing sector.

“America had better lead the way or we will leave a lot behind,” he said.

The former and new president’s embrace of cryptocurrencies was a key cornerstone of his presidential campaign. pitch himself as a “crypto candidate” and “crypto president” while courting technology leaders.

He demanded one strategic national Bitcoin reservedeclares that everything should be Bitcoin dismantled in the USA and added his name to several crypto projects this year.

When it comes to regulation – or deregulation – Trump said he expects the president-elect to provide clear guidelines and “sensible regulation” that sets the rules of the road for the industry.

“It looks like it’s transparent. This is it,” he said.

“A lot of people think that the crypto industry doesn’t want regulation,” he continued. “That’s actually not true. They just want sensible regulation, regulation that they can follow, regulation that is crystal clear, that is black and white.”

Trump also said the industry “doesn’t want to see people like Gary Gensler, who was an absolute disaster for crypto.” He accused the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of “doing everything he could to stifle innovation.”

Gensler said he will be abandon his role on Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration — a welcome move for the crypto industry, which has battled SEC officials over the agency’s strict oversight of the industry. Under his leadership, the SEC took on high-profile cases against a number of key industry players, including: Coinbase And Binance.

President-elect Trump has tapped Paul Atkins, a cryptocurrency advocate, takes over as chairman of the regulator. Atkins, who now runs the consulting firm Pomak Global Partners, has chaired the Digital Chamber’s Token Alliance since 2017, whose mission is to promote best practices and recommend legal frameworks to advance the crypto industry.

— William Gavin contributed to this article.