Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, was largely seen as the pro-crypto candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Back in July, at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, Trump first floated the idea of integrating cryptocurrencies into the national financial strategy. In his keynote address, the President-elect vowed to make the United States the ‘crypto capital of the planet’, remove Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler, and implement a crypto advisory council.
Most importantly, this occasion also marked the first time that Trump floated the idea of a strategic cryptocurrency reserve. His stances have changed over time — back in 2019, he dismissed cryptocurrencies as volatile assets whose value is based on ‘thin air’ — at present, Trump’s crypto portfolio is valued at slightly more than $15 million.
The exact specifics of the plan have changed as Trump’s presidency approaches. Whereas the original idea was to only hold Bitcoin (BTC), the President-elect has reportedly had a change of heart — and is now considering expanding the holdings to other U.S.-based assets, such as Solana (SOL), USD Coin (USDC), and XRP, per the New York Post.
Trump floats ‘America First’ crypto reserve
According to the report, Trump has met with the founders of these coins — sources cited by the NY Post claim that he is receptive to the idea of a more broad-based reserve.
On the whole, the crypto community is almost unanimously supportive of the government holding Bitcoin — although the proposal has drawn criticism from economists like Steve Hanke. However, the idea that other assets — even those based in the U.S., should be included, is a controversial one even within the community.
Insiders who spoke on the matter on the condition of anonymity have expressed concerns that such a move would delegitimize the entire affair — and that the wiser course of action would be to prioritize BTC. However, those same sources have conceded that the worries have generally taken a back seat to what they believe will become a crypto golden age.
Is the inclusion of altcoins a conflict of interest?
While the crypto community has been quite supportive of Trump’s stance toward a national cryptocurrency reserve — this current iteration of the plan has its detractors.
Most notably, Will Clemente, a prominent on-chain analyst and co-founder of Reflexivity Research took to X on January 16 to criticize the idea. Clemente holds that the reserve should only hold Bitcoin, and possibly stablecoins backed by treasuries.
It would appear that Clemente takes issue with the inclusion of assets like SOL and XRP — hinting that the idea to include those assets was brought into Trump’s mind by some of his advisors, who, presumably, have vested interests.
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