The advisor to artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrencies of the White House, David Sacks, talks about“A kind of Fort Knox Digital”the name of the place where the American government stores its gold reserves. But this time these is digital currencies after Donald Trump signed, Thursday, March 6, a decree creating a “Bitcoin Strategic Reserve”.
Concretely, the United States already has some 200,000 bitcoins, according to David Sacks, which represents a value of approximately $ 17.5 billion (around 16.2 billion euros) during the current course. These assets come from legal seizures and were not purchased by the United States government. These assets will be transferred to this strategic reserve, where they will be stored for an unlimited period.
The price of Bitcoin lost up to 5.7 % after this announcement, the market is disappointed that no public purchasing policy of cryptocurrencies is planned. Around 2 am in Paris, Friday, Bitcoin dropped to 84,707 dollars (around 78,500 euros), then starting a rise – 88,236 dollars at 3 o’clock.
In a video filmed in the oval office of the White House and during which Donald Trump signed the decree, David Sacks explains that none of these bitcoins will be sold. Donald Trump had already mentioned the creation of this reserve during his campaign, then last Sunday, in a message published on his Truth Social network.
A radical change of position
This public fund is a strong message for the cryptocurrency industry, but much more broadly in the entire financial markets. It provides additional credibility to this active person regularly criticized for its speculative nature and its lack of utility, in particular for exchanges and transactions.
Hostile for a long time for digital currencies, Donald Trump has radically changed position during his last campaign, to the point of proclaiming himself the cryptocurrency champion. The industry has returned it to him, contributing for more than $ 100 million to its campaign.
According to the decree, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce will have the opportunity to offer the acquisition of additional bitcoins, as long as it is neutral for the state budget. This would amount to replacing with bitcoins of assets held by the federal state in other forms, conventional currencies (dollars or other) or financial titles.
But the decree indicates that the additional bitcoins possibly purchased will not be paid to the strategic reserve, the amount of which will remain unchanged. This decree “Underlines President Trump’s commitment to make the United States the” World City of Cryptos “”said David Sacks.
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