Trump orders administration to assess potential for ‘national digital asset storage’

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that his administration will evaluate whether to create a “national digital asset repository” – making a promise to support the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

However, his executive order failed to create a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, as some crypto advocates had hoped.

Bitcoin’s price briefly rose on the news, but recovered to daily lows as traders took stock of the move.

The idea of ​​a strategic reserve of digital tokens like bitcoin has long been floated in cryptocurrency circles, but gained traction this summer, when Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for the Health and Human Services Secretary, discussed it at the annual Intermediate Bitcoin Conference.

Trump reaffirmed his intention to create a reserve in a CNBC interview in December, saying it was the United States’ opportunity to be a leader in cryptocurrency technology, especially compared to China .

Advocates have called for the creation of a reserve on the grounds that Bitcoin is the new “digital gold.” Just as the United States holds gold reserves, crypto advocates also say, it should also own Bitcoin.

“I think the world is moving to a standard of Bitcoin for money,” Brian Armstrong, CEO of crypto group Coinbase, said this week, according to Yahoo News. “Any government that holds gold should also hold bitcoin as a reserve.”

Hours before Trump’s order Thursday, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., a longtime bitcoin advocate, released a statement on her appointment as chairwoman of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Assets digital calling for the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve, which she said would “strengthen the U.S. dollar” and maintain the United States’ status as a financial innovator.

During his presidential campaign, Trump heavily courted the crypto community, which ultimately became his largest group of donors.

Along the way, he promised to make the United States “the crypto capital of the world,” and on the campaign trail said he would roll back Biden-era restrictions and constraints on cryptographic activity.

Just before Trump took office, questions arose about the extent to which he intended to directly benefit from pro-Crypto measures. Last Friday, it launched its own digital token, $Trump. Although the token had no intrinsic value as a “memecoin”, its price was quickly submitted to investors, with investors quickly viewing it as a way to follow the success of the Trump administration. Yet less than 48 hours later, first lady Melania Trump released her own coin, which provoked a significant number of people in the cryptocurrency community, including previous Trump supporters, to criticize the launches like way to personally benefit from their positions.

When it comes to conflicts of interest, Trump finds himself in largely unusual territory. It’s unclear whether he directly owns any bitcoin — although Vice President JD Vance owned $250,000 to $500,000, according to disclosure forms. Trump voluntarily released an ethics document just before taking office that said he would limit his involvement in the Trump Organization while in office.

Also in Thursday’s order, Trump reversed a directive on the Biden administration to pursue a U.S. digital currency, often called central bank digital currency, or CBDC. These currencies have been adopted and pursued by some world governments, but they have also been viewed with scrutiny and skepticism by some who cite privacy and surveillance concerns.

Trump’s order, which said CBDCs “threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy and sovereignty of the United States”, prohibits the establishment, publication or dissemination of a CBDC in the United States. United.