When the first ever White House summit on crypto policy convenes on Friday, the table will feature a who’s who of industry leaders.

It's also likely to fuel debate on the future of the $3 trillion industry.

When the first ever White House summit on crypto policy convenes on Friday, the table will feature a who’s who of industry leaders.

It’s also likely to fuel debate on the future of the $3 trillion industry.

Michael Saylor, the chairman of MicroStrategy is expected to be there, according to Fox News, as is Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase. The Winklevoss brothers will weigh in as well as Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse.

Coordinating the discussion will be David Sacks, the onetime Solana investor who is now President Donald Trump’s crypto and AI czar.

Supporters and sceptics

While the idea of a crypto strategic reserve has riven the industry between supporters and sceptics, the one thing everyone wants is clarity.

What exactly will the reserve be, how will it be funded, and what is its ultimate purpose are among the questions that will be addressed at the summit.

Supporters say it’s high time the US government amassed a stockpile of Bitcoin and perhaps other cryptocurrencies.

They argue Bitcoin will enable Washington to hedge the risk from a deficit running at $839 billion in the current fiscal year and a national debt that tops $36 trillion.

Moreover, they contend a reserve would amass gains that will strengthen the US’s financial position.

‘It’s not the job of the government to run an ersatz crypto hedge fund.'

MicroStrategy, after all, has recorded a 153% return in the last 12 months even as the software maker’s revenue has tanked.

On Thursday, Sacks said the federal government had been wrong to sell 195,000 Bitcoin for proceeds of $366 million.

“If the government had held the Bitcoin, it would be worth over $17 billion today” Sacks said on X. “That’s how much it has cost American taxpayers not to have a long-term strategy.”

Terrible idea

Maybe so, but sceptics counter that using the federal government’s largesse — and quite possibly, taxpayer funds — to assemble a fund topping tens of billions of dollars is a terrible idea.

For one thing, Bitcoin and its ilk are among the most volatile assets on the planet.

When Bybit, a Dubai-based exchange most Americans have never heard of, was drained of $1.4 billion in crypto in a North Korea-backed heist earlier this month, Bitcoin’s price plunged 4%.

Moreover, Bitcoin, which has closely tracked stocks for years as a ‘risk-on” asset, has lost a fifth of its value since Trump was inaugurated on January 20.

Sophisticated investors may be comfortable taking such risks, but US taxpayers, it’s safe to say, are not.

“It’s not the job of the government to run an ersatz crypto hedge fund,” crypto investor Nic Carter wrote on X.

“When did we completely abandon free markets ideology and become big fans of central planning?”

Percolating idea

A push for a strategic reserve has been percolating in Washington for some time.

After Trump floated the idea at a Bitcoin conference last year, Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, filed the Bitcoin Act, which directs the Treasury to purchase 1 million Bitcoin.

For 20 years, that Bitcoin could be used for only one thing: paying off the country’s multi-trillion-dollar debt.

In a letter to US Senators, Cody Carbone, chief policy officer at the Digital Chamber, said the bill “aligns with our national interests, demonstrates fiscal responsibility, and embraces technological advancements to alleviate economic burdens.”

But Lummis’ bill was a dud.

Of the 30 bills Lummis filed last session, the Bitcoin Act was one of only two that failed to attract a single co-sponsor.

Three bills

At least three bills aimed to introduce state-level Bitcoin reserves have failed since Trump took office.

In the meantime, the reserve has attracted significant controversy.

In the tribal crypto industry, where various factions are quick to criticize rivals’ perceived failings, there was significant debate over the tokens Trump had chosen, in particular Cardano and Ripple’s XRP.

Others say the optics are poor, as Trump and his children stand to benefit from any run-up in crypto prices due to the various crypto ventures they’ve spun up in the past several months.

On Thursday, one Trump-backed crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, purchased more than $20 million in Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies, according to news reports.

Sacks himself spent much of the past week fighting accusations he steered Trump toward tokens in which he had direct or indirect investments.

Sacks repeatedly said on X he did not benefit from Trump’s announcement, having divested his major crypto holdings before ascending to his current