In a significant step toward the cryptocurrency’s potential general acceptance, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday creating a government reserve of bitcoin.
According to Trump’s “crypto czar,” David Sacks, the U.S. government would keep the approximately 200,000 bitcoins it has already collected in criminal and civil procedures under the new order.
“Any Bitcoin deposited into the Reserve will not be sold by the United States.” As a store of value, it will be retained.
The Reserve is essentially a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency commonly nicknamed ‘digital gold,’” Sacks said on social media.
The executive order demands a “full accounting” of the government’s bitcoin assets, which, according to Sacks, have never undergone a thorough audit.
The U.S. government had previously sold off roughly 195,000 bitcoins for $366 million over the past ten years, he continued.
If the government hadn’t sold those bitcoins, he claimed they would have been valued at almost $17 billion.
The directive permits the Treasury and Commerce Departments “to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin,” according to Sacks.
A few years ago, Trump was a skeptic who claimed that bitcoin “seems like a scam.”
However, he has now embraced digital currencies and embraced his unofficial role as the “crypto president” in ways that can benefit the crypto business and benefit him and his family.
Rich cryptocurrency players who believed the Biden administration unfairly targeted them made significant financial contributions to help Trump win the election last year.
Among the many cryptocurrency-related pledges Trump made during the campaign last year was the creation of a bitcoin reserve.
In addition, Trump is pressuring Congress to enact laws that will benefit the business, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun to halt enforcement efforts against certain significant cryptocurrency firms during his presidency.
Trump will host numerous important business leaders to a White House “Crypto Summit” on Friday.
The oldest and most well-known cryptocurrency is Bitcoin.
With a market value of over $1.7 trillion, bitcoin has grown from an experiment by libertarian cryptography enthusiasts to an asset created by an unknown individual or people in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
Although bitcoin hasn’t gained much traction as a means of making regular purchases, it has gained traction as a store of wealth that is unaffected by banks, governments, or other influential organizations.
Supporters claim that because of its inherent scarcity—the 21 million coin limit—Bitcoin is an excellent inflation hedge.
Although detractors have long argued that bitcoin has no intrinsic worth, the cryptocurrency has defied them with impressive price increases so far.
According to some proponents of a strategic bitcoin reserve, it might eventually contribute to the repayment of the US national debt.
Trump took credit when the price of bitcoin first surpassed $100,000 in early December, following the spike in cryptocurrency values following his victory last year. He wrote, “YOU’RE WELCOME!!!” on social media.
Laptops 1000Since then, however, prices have decreased. When Trump issued his executive order, the price of bitcoin, which was trading at about $86,000 at the time, did not immediately rise.
A “U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile” is also established under the presidential order, where the government would store seized cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin.
Following his unexpected declaration that he wanted the government to hold lesser-known cryptocurrencies XRP, Solana, and Cardano, Trump sent cryptocurrency prices on a brief spike on Sunday.
