Trump pitches a national bitcoin “stockpile” as crypto embraces the political spotlight
Fort Knoxchain… Donald Trump wants the US to HODL bitcoin. The former prez made his pitch Saturday at Bitcoin 2024, a crypto conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Trump said that if elected to a second term, he’d create a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile” starting with the crypto that Uncle Sam already holds: the gov’t has 164K BTC worth $8.8B (seized by law enforcement). The announcement was part of Trump’s effort to rally the crypto constituency:
Fired up: Trump said he’d fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who in recent years has led a crypto crackdown. Gensler’s term ends in 2026.
Buy in: After Trump’s speech, Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis said she’d introduce legislation that’d see the Treasury buy 1M BTC over five years to create a “strategic bitcoin reserve.” She doesn’t think it’ll pass this year.
Uncle Sam the crypto whale… has investors seeing $$. The price of bitcoin popped 7% to a six-week high after Trump’s talk, nearly hitting $70K on his pro-crypto reelection promises. The crypto cherry on top: on Saturday the Financial Times reported that Vice President Kamala Harris’ team reached out to crypto cos like Coinbase, Circle, and XRP for a relationship “reset.” Crypto fans say the Biden admin has been antagonistic to the industry.
One step back: Bitcoin’s price slipped yesterday as investors eyed the potential sale of $2B worth of BTC held by the US gov’t (standard policy after seizures).
The crypto constituency has arrived… With Trump and (reportedly) Harris trying to woo the crypto vote ahead of November’s US presidential election, the industry is factoring into reelection strategies across the political spectrum. It’s not playing around: three new pro-crypto PACs — Fairshake, Defend American Jobs, and Protect Progress — have raised $230M+.