Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made headlines at the bitcoin 2024 conference by promising to purchase 4 million bitcoins for the U.S. government if elected president. Before a cheering crowd, Kennedy outlined his bold plan to integrate bitcoin into the national economy.
“I will sign an executive order directing the U.S. Treasury to purchase 550 bitcoins per day until the United States accumulates a reserve of at least 4 million,” Kennedy said. This would represent nearly 20% of the total bitcoin supply.
Kennedy also said he would transfer the 204,000 bitcoins currently held by the government to a Federal Reserve strategic reserve. He promised that the cascading impact of these measures would “effectively take bitcoin to a valuation of hundreds of trillions of dollars.”
He praised bitcoin as “the currency of hope” and a way to restore financial stability after years of poor monetary policies. “Fiat currency was invented to fund war,” Kennedy said, adding that a bitcoin standard would remove incentives for military conflict.
Although Kennedy is not doing so well in early polls, his staunch support for bitcoin could help him gain ground among libertarian-leaning voters. He complained about high inflation and declining purchasing power, problems he believes adopting bitcoin as a standard would solve.
Kennedy also pledged to make bitcoin transactions tax-free and allow bitcoin trading to be tax-free. He said bitcoin's transparency makes it “the greatest enemy of government corruption.”
Now that bitcoin has become a hot topic in the 2024 race, Kennedy is clearly trying to take the mantle as the most pro-bitcoin candidate. His call for a massive reserve of 4 million bitcoins shows that he is willing to take bold positions to appeal to the growing bitcoin voting bloc.
