Former President Donald Trump, currently a Republican presidential candidate, has made a new campaign promise for the United States’ strategic Bitcoin stockpile if he is re-elected. He vowed to never sell any of the Bitcoin the country currently holds.
“If elected, it will be the policy of my administration, that is, the United States, to hold 100 percent of all bitcoin that the U.S. government currently holds or acquires in the future,” he said. “This will effectively serve as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile.”
The U.S. government currently owns about $14 billion worth of bitcoin, most of which was obtained through Justice Department seizures. Fulfilling the country’s plans to not sell any of its existing assets would support bitcoin’s price, as Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, predicted. Bitcoin rose sharply after Trump finished his speech, but was mostly unchanged.
The new bitcoin campaign promise comes a day after presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made even more ambitious promises. Speaking to TheStreet Crypto in an exclusive interview, RFK Jr. said he would instruct the U.S. government to buy bitcoin until its holdings of gold match its holdings.
“I will do a basket of platinum, gold and other hard currencies and I will start issuing at least a class of Treasury bonds tied to hard currency,” he said. “I will have the federal government start buying Bitcoin and during my term, [and] “Eventually we will have an equivalent amount of Bitcoin to the amount of gold we have.”
Bitcoin Conference organizers have increased security ahead of the event in Nashville. Brandon Green, chief of staff for the organizers behind the conference, said Secret Service efforts have increased “tremendously” as thousands of attendees lined up outside the conference.
The Bitcoin Conference also provided a prime fundraising opportunity for the presidential candidate, with former President Trump reportedly offering private meetings to members of the crypto industry for more than $800,000 per person during the event.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris, who is expected to be the Democratic presidential candidate, declined the organizers’ invitation to attend the Bitcoin Conference this year.