Trump stuns the world by announcing plans to create a U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve

For many crypto adherents, the decision to create a strategic reserve acknowledges the growing value of digital assets and their increasing importance

Donald Trump has stunned the world with his plans to create a U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve, signaling a dramatic reversal in the government’s attitude towards digital assets.

For many crypto adherents, the decision to create a strategic reserve acknowledges the growing value of digital assets and their increasing importance to the global economy. Previously, the U.S. government has always been very cautious about crypto, citing misgivings about its volatility, the security risks for investors, and the uncertainty in terms of regulation.

However, Trump is shifting this perspective, giving more legitimacy to crypto assets as financial instruments that can help to strengthen the global economy.

In his executive order creating the U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve, Trump announced it would include five cryptocurrencies to begin with. Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ethereum ($ETC) were obvious choices, while $XRP’s speed and adoption by banks has made it a valuable asset in global finance. Solana ($SOL), the third-biggest blockchain, is also a key asset, and Cardano ($ADA) adds more credibility with its research-driven approach to blockchain.

That said, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if Trump were to extend this list to include additional digital assets in his strategic reserve. After all, there are plenty of other cryptocurrencies offering real value and utility. So let’s take a look at some of the “dark horse” cryptos that might also be on the President’s radar as he goes about establishing his national Crypto Strategic Reserve.

1. $CRO

Crypto.com might not be the biggest U.S.-based crypto exchange (that honor belongs to Coinbase) but it still has plenty of prestige and its founder and CEO Kris Marszalek appears to be pretty close to Trump these days. That makes the exchange’s native token $CRO another possible candidate for inclusion in the U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve.

Marszalek notably met with Trump for the first time in December when he was invited alongside other crypto industry dignitaries to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Among other things, they discussed strategies to implement Trump’s pro-crypto policies, as well as potential industry appointments for key government roles. In addition, they also talked about regulatory changes that could help to make America a more crypto-friendly nation.

It seems that Marszalek made a good impression on Trump, as he has since visited the White House multiple times since the President’s inauguration. That’s perhaps not surprising, as he has also developed strong relationships with a number of American heroes over the years, including the actor Matt Damon and the NBA star LeBron James. Crypto.com also works with the Los Angeles Lakers and various other American firms. That puts $CRO well and truly on Trump’s radar.

2. $AVAX

Some experts have suggested that Trump is employing a market-weighted approach to building his crypto strategic reserve, in order to ensure that the selection of assets is neutral. If that’s the case, he’ll still probably exclude foreign crypto assets such as $BNB, giving priority to U.S. cryptocurrencies. That means Avalanche’s $AVAX stands out as a prime candidate, along with other high-ranking tokens like Polkadot (DOT), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Litecoin (LTC).

$AVAX has an advantage over those other U.S.-made tokens though, because it has emerged as one of the most popular blockchain ecosystems for America’s leading financial institutions. This stems in part from its focus on real-world asset tokenization, which is the process through which traditional financial assets such as stocks, bonds and commodities are represented and traded on blockchains, boosting the efficiency of those markets and increasing liquidity.

Numerous financial institutions have launched tokenization initiatives on the Avalanche blockchain, including U.S. powerhouses such as BlackRock, Citi, Franklin Templeton and Inversion Capital, to name just a few. For instance, BlackRock launched its first digital liquidity fund, known as BUIDL, on Avalanche, while Citi is using the Avalanche Spruce testnet to explore ways it can rearchitect capital markets using blockchain, smart contracts and tokenization.

3. $GRT

It’s not clear if Trump is aware of what The Graph is doing, but this American project is fulfilling a vital role in the blockchain ecosystem with its indexing protocol that allows developers and others to search for, and access data across every major blockchain. It provides a way for dApps to quickly find the information they need to power their features and services.

Still, Trump would likely be impressed by the sustainable business model that has steadily increased the value of the protocol’s native $GRT token, and it’s a project that’s growing in importance as it increases its number of integrations to span all of the major blockchain networks today.

Moreover, The Graph is likely to take on even more importance with the rise of artificial intelligence and AI-powered agents. Trump has made