Bitcoin as a Strategic Reserve

Both former President Donald Trump and Sen. Cynthia Lummis proposed the U.S. hold its bitcoin.

Former President Donald Trump and a number of lawmakers spoke at the Bitcoin Nashville conference over the weekend, with the biggest news being proposals from Trump and Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) to create a strategic reserve for Bitcoin.

Lawmakers – and Trump, who is hoping to regain the presidency this November – took the stage to try and appeal to BTC holders for votes or funds. This is the first major U.S. election where crypto is getting attention from lawmakers and candidates. It's still not totally clear whether there truly is a significant mass of single-issue crypto voters, but what is clear is lawmakers are going to continue to appeal to this crowd over the next few months.

Trump, for his part, spoke about appointing friendlier regulators, but his biggest promise was his suggestion that the U.S. would create a strategic bitcoin stockpile. Lummis introduced a bill this week that would support that goal.

"And so as the final part of my plan today, I am announcing that if I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future, we'll keep 100%," Trump said. "I hope you do well, please. This will serve, in effect, as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile."

The former president also acknowledged that "most of the bitcoin currently held by the United States government was obtained through law enforcement action."

"You know that they took it from you. Let's take that guy's life. Let's take his family, his house, his bitcoin. We'll turn it into bitcoin. It's been taken away from you, because that's where we're going now. That's where this country is going to – fascist regime. And so as I take steps to transform that vast wealth into a permanent national asset to benefit all Americans," he said.

The proposals – both from Trump and Lummis – still leave some questions unanswered at the moment, but in a broader sense, they're more just messages to the bitcoin community that if Trump becomes president again (and/or if Republicans become the majority party in the Senate), he'll be friendlier toward the industry than in his first term.

Trump also shouted out Vivek Ramaswamy, who briefly also vied for the Republican ticket.

"I've heard from Vivek 175 million people in some form, are involved with this world of crypto and Bitcoin and all of the others, 175 million," he said. "So when they heard that, they said, 'Let's be nice to them, at least until after the election.'"

As my colleague Jesse Hamilton reported, this event also served as Sen. Tim Scott's (R-S.C.) first substantial introduction to the crypto community. The Senate Banking Committee's top Republican, Scott – another former contender for the presidency – will become the committee's chair if the GOP retakes the Senate, putting him in charge of legislation that could affect the Securities and Exchange Commission and crypto regulation more broadly. He did not introduce any specific policy ideas during his remarks on stage.