A pair of 50-page policy proposals laying out the plan in detail. Discussions about the specifics with President-elect Donald J. Trump and his advisers. And talks with cabinet nominees about how to pay for it.
On the eve of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the cryptocurrency industry is pushing his incoming administration to execute an audacious plan that would have seemed unimaginable just a year ago: a government program to buy and hold billions of dollars in Bitcoin.
As he campaigned last summer, Mr. Trump vowed to create a federal “Bitcoin stockpile” that would serve as a “permanent national asset to benefit all Americans.” Bitcoin enthusiasts hailed the idea as potentially transformative, claiming that it would help reduce the national debt. Mr. Trump could still abandon the plan, and its details are under debate. But industry executives have spent weeks lobbying to shape the proposal, raising hopes that Mr. Trump might act soon after taking office.
The Bitcoin-bros have been working with David Sachs, Musks’ fellow South African loon who Trump has named his “crypto Czar.” They’re trying to sell it as a way to pay off the national debt and “U.S. economic dominance if the global economy someday runs on cryptocurrencies.” Right.
But the most obvious beneficiaries would be people who already own Bitcoin, which surged to a record price of $100,000 last month. Any indication that the government plans to buy it is likely to send prices even higher. In September, Mr. Trump rolled out his own crypto venture, World Liberty Financial.
You don’t say.
This is clearly a scam designed to boost the price and prepare for a big government bailout when the whole thing comes crashing down.
Brad Garlinghouse, the chief executive of the crypto company Ripple, said in an interview that he had recently had dinner with Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and that he had encouraged the president-elect and his advisers to establish a federal stockpile containing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including XRP, a coin closely tied to Ripple’s business.
“He cares about really living up to his desired legacy of being the crypto president,” Mr. Garlinghouse said.
Have we ever seen such delusions of grandeur from any president? Of course, the main legacy will be as the most corrupt president in US history.