The White House Crypto Summit is about to be held. What are the highlights of the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Plan?

The White House is about to hold a crypto summit, and Bitcoin’s strategic reserve plan has attracted much attention. On the morning of March 7, Trump signed an executive order to establish strategic Bitcoin reserves, and the news quickly attracted the attention of the crypto market.

Trump signed an executive order to establish strategic Bitcoin reserves this time. The reserve is capitalized by the federal government in criminal or civil asset confiscation proceedings, with approximately 200,000 pieces. The US government has made it clear that it will not sell the deposited Bitcoin, and it is highly likely that it will not purchase additional funds, avoiding spending taxpayer funds.

Although this executive order has been signed, it is far from approved by Congress, and it will take several months before it officially takes effect. This uncertainty stimulated traders' "sell the news" sentiment, causing Bitcoin price to plunge after the news came out, falling from around $90,000 to below $85,000 in one hour, but it has rebounded to around $88,000 as of writing.

In January, Trump signed an executive order directing the assessment of the possibility of establishing a national digital asset reserve and a working group chaired by David Sacks. 10x Research analyst Marcus pointed out that “building and maintaining” implies a more passive “hoarding but not buying” strategy, meaning the U.S. government tends to hold existing cryptocurrencies rather than buying more.

Judging from the source of reserves, the Bitcoin currently held by the US government mainly comes from law enforcement operations such as the Silk Road case and the 2016 Bitfinex platform hacking case. Among them, nearly 50% of the Bitcoin seized in the Bitfinex case caused controversy over whether to return it. The U.S. government has hinted that Bitfinex may be the only victim eligible for compensation and proposed to return Bitcoin “in kind”. This position has caused dissatisfaction with former Bitfinex customers who believe they have the right to receive appreciation Bitcoin. When the US government applied for a replacement notification process, Bitfinex platform token LEO quickly rose by nearly 40%, reflecting the market's expectations for the return of Bitcoin and repurchase plans.

At the state level, 18 states in the United States have considered or proposed legislation to establish state-level strategic Bitcoin reserves. On February 27, the Texas Business and Commerce Commission reviewed and passed the Bitcoin Reserves Act and submitted it to the Senate for consideration. On March 7, the Texas Senate passed the Strategic Bitcoin Reserves Act SB-21 by 25 votes in favor and 5 votes against. If the bill is reviewed by the House of Representatives and signed by the governor, it will establish a state-controlled Bitcoin reserve, strengthen financial security and promote digital asset innovation. Its content includes authorizing the Texas government to hold Bitcoin, managing it by the Auditor General’s Office, implementing cold storage solutions and regularly auditing, prohibiting the acquisition of Bitcoin from specific entities, etc.

The specification level is very high for the upcoming White House crypto summit. According to multiple media reports, the "National Crypto Strategic Reserve" plan at the summit has attracted much attention. It plans to include mainstream cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cardano and Ripple (XRP) into the national reserve system, with a functional positioning similar to traditional oil reserves. Forbes disclosed that the selection of reserve assets takes into account the characteristics of various currencies, such as Bitcoin's anti-inflation attributes, Ethereum's smart contract ecosystem, etc.

In terms of regulatory system construction, the summit will focus on the top-level design of stablecoins and the overall regulatory framework. Cointelegraph revealed that Trump adviser David Sax advocates strengthening the hegemony of the dollar through stablecoins, which may affect federal regulatory plans. The current draft bill promoted by the House Financial Services Committee shows that stablecoin institutions with issuances of over 10 billion US dollars may be included in the Federal Reserve's regulatory system, forming a two-tier regulatory structure between the federal and state governments. At the same time, the 21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act proposed in 2023 may usher in substantial progress, aiming to coordinate the regulatory rights and responsibilities of the SEC and CFTC, and build a digital asset supervision paradigm that takes into account innovation and security.

The summit also has the possibility of discussing crypto-related tax reforms. BeInCrypto reported that tax reforms could be part of the agenda and could affect investors’ tax burdens, involving simplifying tax reports on crypto transactions or providing tax incentives to boost industry growth.