“I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World,” Trump declared on his Truth Social network on Sunday in announcing the reserve. Via the New York Times:
Critics of all political stripes decried the move. Some Republicans raised questions about spending taxpayer money on risky assets instead of paying down the national debt. Joe Lonsdale, a friend of Elon Musk’s, wrote on X: “It’s wrong to steal my money for grift on the left; it’s also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes.”
Some protested the seeming latest conflict of interest involving Trump and crypto, noting that Trump profited from promoting the so-called memecoin $Trump before his inauguration. (The S.E.C. last week said memecoins wouldn’t be subject to regulatory oversight.) “This is getting egregious,” the software developer Nikita Bier replied to Lonsdale’s post. “Every 2 weeks there is a kickback to the family. Completely delegitimizes all the work DOGE is doing.”
Others questioned whether David Sacks, the investor who is Trump’s crypto czar, also stands to benefit from such a reserve. Sacks wrote on X that he had sold his cryptocurrency holdings, but didn’t address any holdings his investment firm has in crypto start-ups. Sacks will chair a first-of-its kind crypto White House summit on Friday intended to discuss ways to spur innovation and growth in the sector.