Trump Gives Crypto Market a Boost With 'Reserve' Plan

President Trump again jolted the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrency over the weekend with a surprise announcement that he would move ahead with plans to create a "Crypto Strategic Reserve." The news sent crypto prices soaring, though the details about the reserve remain very much in flux. Coverage:

• The pledge: "I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World," Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday morning. He said the coming reserve would include two well-established digital coins, bitcoin and ethereum, as well as three smaller ones: XRP, solana, and cardano.
• Price rise: Bitcoin has risen about $14,000 since and was north of $93,000 as of Monday morning, per CoinDesk. The token had risen to $109,000 upon Trump's inauguration but had been flagging in recent weeks, along with the crypto industry in general. The smaller coins also surged, some by even greater percentages. Ether was trading near $2,400 Monday morning.

• Questions: It remains unclear how such a reserve—along the lines of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—would work or when it would be created, reports the New York Times. It would presumably involve the US government stockpiling crypto coins—it already has an estimated $17 billion worth of bitcoin, much of it seized in criminal investigations—but Axios takes note of a shift: "A strategic reserve implies that there may be some intent for the holdings, whereas a stockpile connotes a more passive approach."
• Answers: Some details may be filled in Friday at what is being billed as the first White House Crypto Summit, reports CNBC. Trump crypto czar David Sacks tweeted there would be "more to come" at the forum. The Times calls attention to early criticism on the right, including from Elon Musk friend Joe Lonsdale. "It's wrong to steal my money for grift on the left; it's also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes," he tweeted.
• A warning: "The weekend news is exactly the type of catalyst investors have been looking for to feel reassured about follow through from the US administration with respect to its crypto friendly policies," Joel Kruger of LMAX Group tells CNBC. On the other hand, Andrew Tu of Efficient Frontier tells Bloomberg that "if expectations don't meet reality, then markets can potentially retreat again."

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