One of the biggest names in the industry said that a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve (BTC-USD) under President Trump is a real possibility.
“I think he’s excited about it. I mean, he really wants to be the first Bitcoin president,” Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase (COIN), told Yahoo Finance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Armstrong met with Trump before and after the election to defend the cryptocurrency industry.
“The United States already has reserves in a lot of things, like gold and oil, I think, like 27 different rare metals, like palladium and all that stuff,” Armstrong added. “And so I think the world is moving toward a Bitcoin standard for money. That is, the government that You can also hold gold as a reserve.”
This reserve will join several recent cryptocurrency surprises announced by Trump over the past few days.
Last Friday, the returning president launched Trump Coin for the first time. The coin is officially called TRUMP-OFFICIAL-USD, and the coin’s slogan is “Join the Trump Community. This is history in the making!”
The cryptocurrency project was created by CIC Digital, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization. CIC Digital and its affiliates own 80% of the Trump coin supply. The new tokens will be released gradually over the next three years. Trading revenue will be paid to affiliates when tokens are sold.
On the eve of Trump’s inauguration, the Melania coin (MELANIA-USD) made its debut.
In other words, the Trump family stands to benefit from the presidency — a stunning maneuver that has drawn the wrath of government ethics watchdogs.
Trump Coin quickly rose to a market cap of $73 billion in about 48 hours, overtaking DOGE as the largest meme coin. Since its launch, the cryptocurrency’s market value has fallen to $7.3 billion CoinMarketCap. Melania Coin is trading with a market cap of $732 million.
“In our view, the launch of the meme coin by the world’s largest political figure is a massive paradigm shift in the way the United States and the rest of the world engage with cryptocurrencies. It represents a new regulatory era, where governments see cryptocurrencies as a tool,” said Gautam Chugani, analyst. Digital Assets At Bernstein, the technology is in place to reach audiences directly.
Trump has taken a friendly view of cryptocurrencies since his campaign for the White House in 2024. While he stopped short of saying he would create a strategic bitcoin reserve, he has expressed interest in making the United States the “crypto capital” of the world.
To that end, he appointed crypto proponent Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and venture capitalist and former PayPal (PYPL) CEO David Sachs as AI and cryptocurrency chief.
