WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, a day before meeting with executives from the cryptocurrency industry at the White House.
The reserve will be funded with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was confiscated as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, according to a statement by the White House crypto czar, billionaire David Sacks, on social media platform X.
Attendees at Friday’s White House crypto summit anticipate that the event will serve as a platform for Trump to formally announce his plans to create a strategic reserve containing Bitcoin and four other cryptocurrencies.
Earlier this week, Trump revealed the names of five digital assets he intends to include in this reserve, which subsequently boosted the market value of each. The five cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana, and Cardano, the president stated.
It remains unclear how such a reserve would operate or how it would benefit taxpayers.
Trump’s efforts to support the crypto industry, which spent millions backing him and other Republicans in the November elections, have raised concerns among some conservatives and crypto proponents. Critics argue that these moves could lead to giveaways to an already wealthy community and undermine the legitimacy of the digital currency industry.
Supporters, however, contend that a reserve would help taxpayers benefit from the price growth of cryptocurrencies.
The president’s backing of the crypto industry has also sparked conflict-of-interest concerns. Trump’s family has launched cryptocurrency meme coins, and the president holds a stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform.
His aides have stated that Trump has transferred control of his business ventures to external ethics lawyers for review.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
For the latest updates and more news, be sure to visit ZTC News and Z News Today.