President Trump Rejects Establishment of Bitcoin Strategic Reserve

NASHVILLE — Former President Donald Trump stopped short of committing to establishing an official U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve currency during his keynote speech at the world’s largest bitcoin summit on Saturday. Bitcoin meeting This year’s.

Instead, the Republican presidential candidate simply promised to maintain current levels of Bitcoin holdings, which the United States has accumulated by seizing assets from financial criminals.

“For far too long, our government has broken a cardinal rule that every bitcoin holder knows: never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said at this year’s Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.

“If I am elected, it will be the policy of my Administration and the United States of America to retain 100% of all Bitcoin currently held or acquired by the United States Government,” he said.

Trump’s strategy of permanently holding onto his Bitcoin holdings through both bull and bear markets is highly recommended in cryptocurrency circles., However, this is not the US government’s current approach.

The U.S. Marshals Service now regularly auctions off Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies stored in the nation’s vaults. ether and LitecoinSuch selling can sometimes trigger cryptocurrency prices to fall, as happened when Germany began liquidating hundreds of millions of dollars worth of seized bitcoin earlier this month.

Trump’s remarks on Saturday came ahead of a private roundtable discussion with a range of donors, where the former president did not discuss how his plan would work but said he thought it would make sense for the government to hold bitcoin.

Among those at the gathering were investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, musician Kid Rock and Republican Sens. Cynthia Lummis, Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, according to two people in the room.

Trump’s proposal was not as revolutionary as some crypto enthusiasts had hoped, and did not match the bolder claims made by third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“I understand that President Trump may announce plans tomorrow to build a Bitcoin Fort Knox and authorize the United States government to purchase 1 million Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset,” Kennedy said in his speech at the Bitcoin Conference on Friday.

Kennedy has gone further than Trump, promising to set aside a strategic reserve of 4 million bitcoins, comparable to the amount of gold stored near the military base at Fort Knox. The independent presidential candidate has said he will sign an executive order directing the U.S. Treasury to purchase 550 bitcoins per day, a move that would significantly change how cryptocurrencies are regulated and valued.

Bitcoin is becoming a more central issue in the election campaign, driven largely by the growing presence of the cryptocurrency lobby in Washington, but Trump’s reluctance to follow Kennedy’s lead in creating a “Bitcoin Fort Knox” initiative is notable.

But Trump’s concerns illustrate the complexities of committing to a Bitcoin strategic reserve on par with the gold standard.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In short: no.

A presidential order alone would not be enough to enact a U.S. Bitcoin reserve: the president would need to pass new legislation and get approval from Congress to enact it, a process some lawmakers have already begun.

Shortly after President Trump’s main speech at the Bitcoin Conference on Saturday, Senator Lummis of Wyoming announced plans to introduce new legislation to support a strategic bitcoin reserve.

“The United States will collect 1 million bitcoin over the next five years, which is 5% of the global supply,” Lummis said, “and it will be held for a minimum of 20 years and used for one purpose: to reduce debt.”

Lummis added that creating such a reserve would help shore up the dollar against rising inflation.

The U.S. government is accumulating bitcoin assets seized from financial criminals in a high-profile sting operation.

The existing Bitcoin stockpile could serve as the basis for a Bitcoin strategic reserve, which the U.S. government would build up by periodically purchasing a set number of Bitcoins.

The cost of these additional Bitcoin purchases will likely be paid for, at least in part, by U.S. taxpayers.

According to Senator Lummis’ bill, which is expected to be introduced in the coming days, the Bitcoin reserve would be funded with “existing funds” from the Treasury Department, including tax revenues.

Lummis said at the Bitcoin Conference that the ultimate goal is to reduce the federal deficit, which could help offset the initial spending.

A bill to establish sanctuaries like the one Lummis is proposing would likely require Republicans to win major controls of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives in November.

The likelihood of this kind of red wave had seemed to be growing for much of July as Democrats and independents defected to President Joe Biden.

But with Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic candidate list, the 2024 election takes on a new dimension.

A Bitcoin reserve would give the digital currency an even higher level of legitimacy, given the momentum behind the growing adoption of digital assets on Wall Street.

In January, following approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund began trading in the U.S. market. Many saw the listing as a milestone in cementing Bitcoin’s status as an asset class that’s here to stay.

Still, the introduction of a national reserve would be a nice promotion for the fledgling currency, which has been marked by shaky performance and occasional investor windfalls since its introduction in 2009. Trump himself has been dismissive of Bitcoin as recently as 2021, calling it a “fraud.”

In the short term, Bitcoin’s newfound status is likely to send the cryptocurrency’s price soaring.

“If the U.S. government sets up a strategic reserve, and other countries will likely do the same, we will see a lot of bitcoin being taken off the market,” he said. Marathon Digital“That drives up prices across the board,” said Fred Thiel, CEO of .

For now, Bitcoin is stabilizing around $68,000 as the market ignores President Trump’s pledges on Bitcoin, which have been far less aggressive than expected.