President Trump Orders for the Creation of a Bitcoin Reserve

Fulfilling a campaign promise, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a government reserve of Bitcoin and a separate reserve for other cryptocurrencies.

The Big Picture: President Trump has positioned himself as very pro-crypto in his second term, appointing tech entrepreneur David Sacks as crypto czar, directing his administration to drop lawsuits against exchanges, hosting a “Crypto Summit” with top execs, and even controversially launching his own memecoin on Inauguration Day. By establishing an official reserve of the most popular crypto, he’s signaling for the markets to take Bitcoin as seriously as gold.

Behind the Code: America is getting a digital Fort Knox.

• It calls for a full audit of all the Bitcoin the US government has seized in criminal and civil forfeiture, estimated to be around 200,000.
• 120,000 of that Bitcoin was seized from husband-wife thieves Ilya “Dutch” Lichtenstein and Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan — dubbed “Bitcoin’s Bonnie and Clyde.”
• The government won’t sell any of the Bitcoin (it’s sold 195,000 in the past for $366 million), instead holding it as a “store of value,” per Sacks.
• The order also calls for Treasury and Commerce Departments to “develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin.”
• Additionally, the order establishes a US Digital Asset Stockpile to house any other cryptocurrencies seized by the government.

The Future: Interestingly, the price of Bitcoin hasn’t fluctuated much since the announcement, trading at about $86,000. It briefly skyrocketed to $100,000 last year when Trump won the election. Despite the ups and downs, Bitcoin has maintained a pretty steady growth trajectory (despite all the considerable risks). If that continues, it could be used to pay off a significant amount of debt far down the line.