Bitcoin – Trump Takes the World by Surprise

full version at cointribune

The Bitcoin Conference 2024 will go down in history. Two presidential candidates came to win the votes of tens of millions of American bitcoiners.

Ich bin ein bitcoiner

Robert Kennedy paved the way by announcing his intention to build a strategic reserve of bitcoins equivalent to the U.S. gold reserves (8,134 tons of gold).

While the polls are far from predicting a victory for R. Kennedy in November, his speech was not in vain. It forced Donald Trump’s hand, who promised the next day to put an end to the government crusade against Bitcoin.

Here are probably the two strongest statements of allegiance from his 45-minute speech:

“America will once again become a nation that protects property rights, privacy, transactional freedom, freedom of association, and freedom of speech. […] Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty, and independence from the coercive control of governments. […] There will never be a CBDC if I am elected president.”

Like a good politician, Trump didn’t miss the chance to flatter his audience:

“Those of you in this room are the heirs to generations of pioneers, patriots, risk-takers, and renegades who built the modern world. You are the Edisons, the Wright brothers, the Carnegies, and the Henry Fords of the modern era. What you are doing may very well outlive us all and inspire humanity for generations to come.”

“This is a red-letter day in your industry’s history. You are building America’s future with intelligence and courage. Most people don’t have that courage. My job will be to set you free and let you do what America does best: win.”

Strategic BTC Reserve

It’s done, Bitcoin will officially become an international reserve currency if Trump wins in a few months.

In practical terms, the miracle worker will institute a “strategic reserve.” In other words, the 210,000 bitcoins seized by the Justice Department will not be sold. Quite the opposite of Germany which recently dumped 50,000 BTC…

“If I am elected, my administration’s policy will be to retain 100% of the bitcoins it holds and acquires,” he announced.

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has unveiled a bill titled “Bitcoin Reserve Bill” aimed at sextupling this reserve.

“The bill stipulates that we will create a strategic bitcoin reserve. […] This reserve will initially be stocked with 210,000 BTC. This law also authorizes the purchase of one million BTC over the next five years,” she announced.

Cynthia Lummis stated that this reserve must be held for at least 20 years. The ambition is to “reduce the U.S. national debt by half by 2045.”

Your faithful servant doubts such an outcome. That said, acquiring a substantial amount of bitcoins before other nations will surely be a profitable strategy.

If, as D. Trump predicts, Bitcoin’s market capitalization surpasses that of gold, this million BTC will be worth (at current prices) around $1 trillion. That’s roughly 1/35 of the U.S. national debt…

Bitcoin is not really the silver bullet that will erase the debt or replace the fiat system. However, it can become the international, censorship-resistant store of value the world craves.

Bitcoin vs Dollar

For Donald Trump, “it’s not Bitcoin that threatens the dollar, but the fiscal policy of this government.”

It’s a nice statement. Unfortunately, the fiat system is a Ponzi scheme that by definition requires perpetual monetary expansion. The probability that Donald Trump will reduce the budget deficit is close to zero…

Bitcoin is not a magic currency. Nevertheless, setting aside bitcoins in reserve is a positive signal in the eyes of nations increasingly reluctant to place their reserves in treasury bonds.

The BRICS no longer want to trade in dollars and have been accumulating gold for years with a view to restoring the Gold Standard. A bitcoin reserve can be seen as a step in that direction.

Donald Trump knows that a good part of the international tensions are linked to the petrodollar that offers the United States the privilege of a chronically deficit trade balance.

Russia is fully aware of this. Detailing the roadmap for easing international relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned this month “that there can be no monetary monopoly in a multipolar world.”

In this regard, don’t miss our article: Russia pleads in New York for the end of the dollar monopoly.

If Donald Trump is sincere when he says he wants to “end the Third World War,” we will have to agree on a new international reserve currency and reduce the gargantuan U.S. trade deficit.

The fact that he expects “stablecoins to extend the dollar’s dominance worldwide” suggests we’re not there yet… However, his ambition to reindustrialize the country is a step in the right direction.

The day will come when nations will request payment for their exports in gold or bitcoin. By daring to create a national bitcoin reserve before everyone else, the United States will buy themselves some respite.