Trump Signs Executive Order to Create Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

According to Jinshi, David Sacks, the head of cryptocurrency at the White House, revealed that Trump signed an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The reserve will be funded by Bitcoin owned by the federal government, which is confiscated in criminal or civil asset forfeiture procedures.

U.S. president Donald Trump is expected to announce plans for the federal government to begin holding a strategic reserve of Bitcoin (BTC), becoming one of the main topics of discussion at the upcoming White House cryptocurrency summit, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

* What happened: More than two dozen cryptocurrency executives, investors and celebrities will gather at the White House on Friday to discuss the future of the crypto space under Trump's leadership. The event is likely to become a platform for promoting a number of cryptocurrency-related administrative initiatives, and multiple options are currently being considered.

* The president may announce that the government will no longer sell cryptocurrencies confiscated in criminal cases and will instead use them to build a national reserve, the people said. Trump may also issue an executive order to create a real Bitcoin reserve, which is expected to buy more of the digital currency.

* Another potential proposal would involve the tax treatment of cryptocurrencies and would likely require review and approval by Congress, one of the people familiar with the matter said. These actions are still under discussion and may not ultimately be implemented or may change, the people familiar with the matter said.

* The latest list of participants for the White House crypto summit includes the CEOs of Anchorage Digital and FalconX.

* The complete list of attendees is: Brad Garlinghouse (CEO of Ripple), Chris Giancarlo (former chairman of the CFTC and senior legal advisor of Willkie, Hoar, Naugle, Berge & Boyajian), Nathan McCauley (CEO of Anchorage Digital), Kris Marszalek (CEO of Crypto.com), Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss (founders of Gemini), Vlad Tenev (CEO of Robinhood), Arjun Sethi (CEO of Kraken), Michael Saylor (founder of Strategy), Brian Armstrong (CEO of Coinbase), Sergey Nazarov (co-founder of Chainlink), and Kyle Samani (managing partner of Multicoin).

* Other guests include: Zach Witkoff (co-founder of Trump-related crypto project World Liberty Financial), JP Richardson (CEO of Exodus), Matt Huang (co-founder of Paradigm), David Bailey (CEO of Bitcoin Magazine), Raghu Yarlagadda (CEO of FalconX), Shayne Coplan (CEO of Polymarket), and David Sacks (director of AI and cryptography at the White House).

* According to reports, the White House is planning to host a "digital asset summit" on Friday to discuss the role of crypto in the U.S. economy and how to maximize the value of the government's existing Bitcoin holdings. The event will be attended by major crypto executives and influencers.

* The summit will focus on President Trump's vision for advancing the U.S. in the digital asset domain, aiming to establish the country as a global leader in blockchain and cryptocurrency technology.

* The report also mentions that the president is considering issuing an executive order to create a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, which will be funded by Bitcoin owned by the federal government and confiscated in criminal or civil asset forfeiture procedures.

* No additional assets will be purchased for the reserve, and the government will not sell any Bitcoin deposited in the reserve. The executive order will also authorize the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to develop budget-neutral strategies to obtain more Bitcoin.

* The executive order will require a comprehensive accounting of digital assets held by the federal government.

* The report further notes that the U.S. government has already collected a significant amount of Bitcoin through asset forfeiture over the past few years.

* According to Jinshi, the Bitcoin is valued at over $17 billion, while the government's premature sale of Bitcoin has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $17 billion in value.

* The executive order will also create the "U.S. digital asset reserve" to manage the government's digital asset holdings.

* The reserve will be funded by Bitcoin and other digital assets owned by the federal government.

* The order will direct the heads of federal agencies to cooperate in the development and implementation of policies and programs to support the digital asset industry and ensure the U.S. remains a global leader in this sector.

* The president's advisors have been urging him to take a more active role in the crypto space, and this move is seen as a response to that pressure. It is also part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to promote American economic and technological dominance.

* The crypto summit is expected to be a major event, and it will be interesting to see what Trump announces and what plans the administration has for the future of cryptocurrency in the U.S.

This article was written by Ben Armstrong and edited by Ben Gleason for Benzinga.

Image: President Donald Trump and White House officials in the White House on December 10, 2020. Credit: Kevin DiGiovanni via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain) and a composite image of Bitcoin by Antonop