Author: David Yaffe-Bellany; Compiler: Liam, Carbon Chain Value
Cryptocurrency Industry President-elect Trump has been urged to build a Bitcoin reserve, creating real momentum for the plan.
According to the New York Times, a 50-page proposal has detailed the Bitcoin reserve plan. Specific details have been discussed with President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers. and discussing with Cabinet nominees how to pay for it.
On the eve of Trump's inauguration, the cryptocurrency industry is urging his new executive to implement a bold plan that seemed unimaginable a year ago: “A plan to buy and hold billions of dollars in Bitcoin.”
Last summer, during Trump’s campaign Vows to establish a federal “Bitcoin Reserve” as a “permanent asset for the benefit of all Americans.” Bitcoin enthusiasts hailed the idea as transformative, claiming it would help reduce debt. There is still a possibility that Trump will abandon the plan, the details of which are still being discussed. But industry executives spent weeks lobbying to develop the proposal, raising hopes that Trump would take action soon after taking office.
Cryptocurrency executives have approached Trump in recent days about the venture capitalist he has appointed to oversee cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, according to three people familiar with the matter. David Sacks provided input, suggesting that he issue an executive order that could cover multiple areas of cryptocurrency. Two of them said Bitcoin reserves were part of those discussions.
Pete Rizzo, editor of the crypto industry news media Bitcoin Magazine, said: "This may be an initiative on the first day of office. It is undoubtedly It’s an idea that’s made a lot of headway in the short term.” According to some estimates, the value of Bitcoin seized from criminals in the United States is as high as $19 billion. Sell the loot. Some cryptocurrency executives have called on Mr. Trump to continue to hold the coins, which he will likely do via executive order. Others have proposed a more ambitious plan to buy tens of billions of dollars in new Bitcoin to create a "strategic reserve" similar to the federal gold and oil reserves. The spending may require congressional approval.
Advocates of the plan argue that profits from Bitcoin reserves will help reduce the $36 trillion national debt and ensure that the U.S. economy remains dominant as the global economy one day runs on cryptocurrencies. status.
But the most obvious beneficiaries will be those who already own Bitcoin, which surged to an all-time high of $100,000 last month. If you plan to buy Bitcoin, it is likely to continue to push the price higher. In September, Trump launched his own cryptocurrency venture capital arm, World Liberty Financial.
Some cryptocurrency executives have privately expressed concern that the plan could make the industry look greedy, and many financial experts have dismissed the plan as A self-serving stunt and pointing out that the price of Bitcoin has been highly volatile over the years.
"There is nothing strategic or rational about the idea," said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University. This is undoubtedly good for current Bitcoin holders, but it is also undoubtedly bad for taxpayers." But the mere fact of thinking about hoarding Bitcoin shows that. After years of regulatory crackdowns on the crypto industry, the tide has shifted dramatically.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of the cryptocurrency company Ripple, said in an interview that he recently spoke to Trump privately During a dinner with Mr. Trump at the Mar-a-Lago estate, the president-elect and his advisers were encouraged to establish a federal reserve program that would include Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including XRP, which is closely related to Ripple's business.
Garlinghouse said: "What he really cares about is fulfilling his expectations as a cryptocurrency president."
Two new 50-page proposals released by a Bitcoin advocacy group have been circulating among industry executives and Trump allies. In recent weeks, Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming has discussed a plan with the Trump transition team, including Cabinet nominees, to buy 1 million coins over five years, according to two people familiar with the matter. Bitcoin.
Trump transition team spokesman BrianAsked for comment, Brian Hughes said the president-elect "will fulfill his promise to encourage American leadership in cryptocurrency and other emerging technologies."
For years, Bitcoin enthusiasts have speculated whether the United States would stockpile Bitcoin—digital gold reserves that match actual gold reserves held. Federal authorities have seized about 200,000 bitcoins in criminal activity, including billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency seized from hackers of the online drug marketplace Silk Road.
But it wasn’t until Trump embraced cryptocurrencies during the campaign that people believed the U.S. might hold on to those bitcoins permanently or buy more on the open market Bitcoin. Previously, Trump denounced Bitcoin as a "scam" in 2021.
In July, shortly before Mr. Trump was scheduled to speak at a popular Bitcoin conference in Nashville, he met privately with a group of cryptocurrency executives. And came up with the idea of hoarding Bitcoin. Nathan McCauley was involved in the gathering and runs Anchorage Digital, which provides storage services for digital currencies. At the meeting, Senator Lummis announced a bill, the Bitcoin Act, calling on the United States to purchase 1 million Bitcoins within five years.
Mr Trump did not explicitly call for buying more Bitcoin in his speech. But he promised to convert existing U.S. Bitcoin reserves into the "Core" of "Bitcoin Reserves," praising the cryptocurrency as a "technological marvel." Last month, he appeared to reiterate that commitment during an interview at the New York Stock Exchange when asked whether he would establish a cryptocurrency reserve. "Yes, I think so," he replied.
In the industry, the most active advocate of this view is David Bailey. ,), who is the CEO of Bitcoin Magazine and organizer of the Nashville conference. Mr. Bailey claimed credit for helping shape Mr. Trump’s views on Bitcoin and said they met last year ahead of the conference. More recently, Mr. Bailey also served as a liaison between cryptocurrency executives and people in Mr. Trump’s circle, two executives familiar with the matter said. Mr Bailey declined to comment.
Trump's remarks in Nashville immediately turned a bizarre-sounding proposal into one of the industry's most important goals. M, who owns over $4 billion in BitcoinMichael Saylor, executive chairman of microStrategy, once viewed the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve as the Louisiana Purchase.
Saylor, a friend of Trump's son Eric, said at an industry conference in November: "Bitcoin is American. Manifest Destiny."
Recently, cryptocurrency companies have stepped up their efforts to profit from Bitcoin reserve plans, whatever form they take.
Last month, Anchorage Digital released a white paper on how to build a Bitcoin reserve and plans to bid for a contract to Protected cryptocurrency assets that may eventually be regulated by the Treasury Department.
"There is a new group of people in the Treasury who may be taking on this responsibility, so they need to be educated," Mr. Macaulay said in an interview. "We are Lobbying at the state level has also intensified, and well-funded cryptocurrency industry groups are often able to successfully influence the formulation of laws and regulations. Lawmakers in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Oklahoma have introduced bills that would create state-controlled cryptocurrency reserves. Some of the language in these proposals is similar to a model bill released by the Satoshi Action Fund, a non-profit Bitcoin foundation.
Dennis Porter, the organization's CEO, said in an interview that he has been working with state legislators across the country to promote Bitcoin Reserve. He said lawmakers in several other states are drafting legislation to establish their own Bitcoin reserves.
Porter said: "The draft is in our inbox."