Bitcoin as a Strategic Reserve

Over the weekend, former US President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump and a number of lawmakers spoke at the Bitcoin Nashville conference. The big news everyone was talking about was Trump and Senator Cynthia Lummis’ proposal to create a strategic reserve for Bitcoin, but the event also served as Senator Tim Scott’s introduction to the real crypto debate.

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Story

Lawmakers and, of course, Donald Trump, who hopes to regain the presidency this November, took to the stage at the Bitcoin Nashville conference last week to try to appeal to BTC holders for votes or funding.

Why is it important?

This is the first major U.S. election where crypto has gained traction with lawmakers and candidates. While it’s still not entirely clear whether single-issue crypto voters truly have a significant following, it’s clear that lawmakers will continue to appeal to this crowd over the next few months.

Breaking this down

First: Former President Donald Trump said he would work to appoint friendlier regulators if elected, but his biggest promise may be his proposal for the U.S. to create a strategic Bitcoin stockpile, a promise echoed by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who introduced a bill this week that would support that goal.

“And as the final part of my plan today, I am announcing that if elected, the policy of my administration will be to hold 100% of all bitcoin that the United States government now holds or acquires in the future, we will hold 100%,” Trump said. “I hope you do well, please. This will serve as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”

The former president also acknowledged that “most of the Bitcoin in the hands of the U.S. government was obtained through the actions of law enforcement.”

“You know they took that from you. Let’s take that man’s life. Let’s take his family, his home, his bitcoin. We’re going to convert that into bitcoin. It was taken from you, because that’s where we’re going now. That’s where this country is headed — fascist regime. And I’m taking steps to turn this tremendous wealth into a permanent national asset that will benefit all Americans,” he said.

Both Trump’s and Lummis’ proposals leave some questions unanswered at the moment, but more broadly, these are just messages to the Bitcoin community at large; if Trump becomes president again (and/or the Republicans become the majority party in the Senate), he will be friendlier to the industry than he was during his first term.

Trump also called out Vivek Ramaswamy, who briefly ran as a Republican Party candidate.

“I heard from Vivek that 175 million people are somehow interested in this crypto and Bitcoin and the rest of the world, 175 million,” he said. “When they heard that, they said, ‘Let’s be nice to them at least until after the election.’”

You can read part of Trump’s speech here.

As my colleague Jesse Hamilton reported, the event also marked Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) first significant introduction to the crypto community. The top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, Scott (a former presidential candidate) will become the committee’s chairman if the GOP retakes the Senate, putting him in charge of legislation that could impact the Securities and Exchange Commission and crypto regulation more broadly. He didn’t offer any specific policy ideas in his onstage speech.

this week

If you have thoughts or questions about what I should discuss next week, or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Twitter. @nikhileshde.

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See you next week!