Trump pledges more support for crypto world after authorizing a ‘digital Fort

Donald Trump told some of the leading cryptocurrency players on Friday that he is making good on his pledges to them and would continue giving the industry what it wants.

“I promised to make America the bitcoin superpower of the world and the crypto capital of the planet and we’re taking historic action to deliver on that promise,” he said at the end of a “crypto summit” at the White House.

The gathering came after the president on Thursday fulfilled one of his campaign promises by authorizing the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve — and a separate US stockpile of other digital assets.

“From this day on, America will follow the rule that every bitcoiner knows very well — never sell your bitcoin,” Trump said.

“So far, it’s been right and well, let’s keep it that way,” he added.

One of the attendees, Coinbase Global (COIN) CEO Brain Armstrong, told Yahoo Finance that “President Trump really breathed life back into this industry,” citing a decision by his cryptocurrency exchange to hire 1,000 people in the US as a result of the increased regulatory clarity provided by the new administration.

Trump’s bitcoin reserve will be seeded with bitcoin (BTC-USD) already owned by the federal government that was taken as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks said in a Thursday post on the social media platform X.

“This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime,” Sacks said.

Sacks said on X that the US government owns an estimated 200,000 bitcoins worth over $17 billion after selling off about half of what it acquired through criminal seizures, although he said there has never been a complete audit.

Had the government not sold that sum for roughly $360 million over the last decade, according to White House officials, its bitcoin holdings would potentially be worth $17 billion more.

Sacks said the US will not sell any bitcoin once it is in the reserve and that it will be kept as a store of value.

The reserve, he added, “is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold.'”

Armstrong of Coinbase told Yahoo Finance that because “the United States government is now a holder of bitcoin, maybe a buyer” that “I think the rest of the G20 [countries] are going to see that as a signal that bitcoin is really the successor to the gold standard.”

Not everyone in Washington was as excited by the development. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday said she sent a letter to Sacks raising concerns about the reserve — and any conflicts of interest “as the administration pushes policies that could directly benefit the president, administration insiders, and wealthy investors.”

Sacks said last Sunday in a social media post on X, “I sold all my cryptocurrency (including BTC, ETH, and SOL) prior to the start of the administration.” On Monday he said he sold a $74,000 position in a Bitwise ETF and does not have “large indirect holdings.”

He added that he would provide an “update at the end of the ethics process.” The Financial Times reported that his venture capital firm retains stakes in a small number of crypto startups and that he was in the process of a government ethics review.

His boss, the president, is a participant in the cryptocurrency industry. Just before his inauguration, Trump’s team launched an official meme coin for the 47th president (TRUMP) and one for first lady Melania Trump (MELANIA) on the solana blockchain.

Trump and his sons are also backers of another crypto project called World Liberty Financial, and his namesake Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) said it will allocate up to $250 million of cash tied up in a venture called Truth.Fi into cryptocurrencies and other investments.

One unknown question about the reserve announced Thursday by Sacks and Trump is whether it will be used to buy more bitcoin beyond the assets already held by the US government.

Sacks said Thursday night that the secretaries of Treasury and Commerce have the authorization “to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC Friday that seized crypto assets would go into the reserve first and “then we’ll see what the way forward is for more acquisitions for the reserve. And we’re starting with bitcoin, but it’s an overall crypto reserve.”