Donald Trump promised it during the election campaign, and he repeated it last Sunday on his social network Truth Social: the American president, who has proclaimed himself champion of cryptocurrencies, has indeed created a "strategic reserve of bitcoins". In a decree published on the White House website on Thursday, March 6, the Trump administration is committed to holding these cryptocurrencies for the long term.
Last July in Nashville, during the cryptocurrency summit, Donald Trump promised to create a reserve of the largest cryptocurrency in the world, like the gold reserve that the United States holds at Fort Knox, a vault adjacent to a military base. This has now been done.
But the reserve will not be funded by bitcoins purchased by the American administration, but by cryptoassets seized as part of legal proceedings. According to David Sacks, the White House’s crypto chief, the country already has 200,000 seized bitcoins – which is worth nearly $17.5 billion, he explains in a lengthy message on X. They will now be stored in this strategic reserve, with bitcoin becoming “a reserve asset,” a long-term investment.
As a result, the US administration will stop giving away seized bitcoins – in recent years, the U.S. Marshals Service has resold seized bitcoins to criminals, with a view to compensating victims. Another important point: the reserve will not be funded by public bitcoin purchasing policies – a big disappointment for the sector. Although the US administration will be able to define "budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoins", these acquisitions must not entail any cost to American taxpayers, the presidential decree specifies.
In addition to the strategic reserve of bitcoins, a stockpile of other digital assets is created
In addition to this reserve of bitcoins, the decree also establishes a separate stockpile of digital assets, managed by the Treasury Department, which will contain other confiscated cryptocurrencies. Last Sunday, Donald Trump had specified that in addition to bitcoin, other crypto assets such as ether, XRP, Solana's SOL and Cardano's ADA would be part of a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies. The price of these tokens had then skyrocketed, with investors hoping that the American administration would become a buyer of these digital assets.
But for other cryptocurrency investors, many of whom supported Donald Trump during the election campaign, the news had cast a chill. Bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss, quoted by CNBC, explains that he has nothing Symbol', 'Noto Color Emoji';">"against XRP, SOL or ADA, but I don't think they are suitable for a strategic reserve. Only one digital asset in the world currently meets the bar and that digital asset is bitcoin," he believes.
But ultimately, only bitcoin is part of the strategic reserve, and there is no major public purchasing policy for bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in the short term. Enough to disappoint the market: cryptocurrency prices immediately fell after David Sacks' publication on X – including for bitcoin – before recovering a little afterwards. Many investors, who were hoping that bitcoins would be bought by the Trump administration, sold their assets, which caused the price of cryptocurrencies to fall.
Bitcoin, on the verge of becoming a credible asset?
Symbolically, however, this decision sends a strong message to institutions, namely, that the era of cryptocurrency regulation, launched by Joe Biden after the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX, is well and truly over. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, the SEC, the U.S. stock market watchdog, has paused or closed lawsuits and investigations involving nearly ten cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs and OpenSea, notes Bloomberg.
But most importantly, this announcement shows that bitcoin is here to stay, says Ryan Gilbert, a fintech investor who was interviewed by CNBC. For the latter, Donald Trump's decree allows bitcoin to be further distinguished from other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin would be well on its way to becoming an important and credible global asset, he adds.
In any case, the news brings him some assurances, for an asset regularly criticized for its speculative nature. Donald Trump, who has for years been a harsh critic of cryptocurrencies, turned his back on him during the presidential campaign. The sector paid him nearly $100 million during his election campaign. The implementation of the presidential decree is expected to be hotly debated this Friday, March 7, when industry leaders and policymakers will meet at the White House for a summit entirely dedicated to cryptocurrency.
0 Comments