Trump announces plans for US Bitcoin strategic reserve
Former President Donald Trump, now a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, announced a new campaign promise for a U.S. strategic Bitcoin stockpile if re-elected. He promised that the country would never sell any of the bitcoin it currently holds.
"If I am elected it will be the policy of my administration, the United States of America to keep 100 percent of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future," he said. "This will serve in effect as the core of the strategic national Bitcoin stockpile."
The U.S. government currently holds about $14 billion worth of bitcoin, mostly acquired via Department of Justice seizures. As Fundstrat's Head of Digital Asset Strategy Sean Farrell predicts, delivering on plans to not sell any of the country's existing holdings would be supportive of bitcoin's price. Bitcoin whipsawed after Trump finished his speech, but was mostly unchanged.
The new bitcoin campaign promise came one day after presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made promises that went even further. RFK Jr. told TheStreet Crypto in an exclusive interview that he would direct the U.S. government to buy bitcoin until its holdings matched its gold holdings.
“I’m gonna do a basket of hard currencies, platinum and gold and other hard currencies, and begin issuing at least a class of Treasury bills that are anchored to hard currency,” he said. "I would like to have the federal government begin to buy Bitcoin and over my term in office, [and] ultimately have an equivalent amount of Bitcoin that we have gold."
The Bitcoin Conference organizers had stepped up security ahead of the event in Nashville. Brandon Green, the Chief of Staff for the organizers behind the conference, said the Secret Service efforts were up "tremendously" as thousands of attendees lined up outside the conference.
The Bitcoin Conference also presented a prime fundraising opportunity for the presidential candidate. During the event, former President Trump reportedly offered private meetings to members of the crypto industry for more than $800,000 a person.
Meanwhile, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, declined an invitation from organizers to attend the Bitcoin Conference this year.