The US government will release half of its Bitcoin destined for Trump's strategic reserve

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This morning, the US government announced via a court document that bitcoins stolen from the 2016 Bitfinex hack should be returned to the exchange in kind. This bitcoin, as seen publicly on the blockchain via Arkham Intelligencetotals 94,643 btc with a current value of $9.4 billion at the time of writing.

Just five days before pro-bitcoin Donald Trump is sworn into office for a second term, the US government appears to be on the verge of sending a large chunk of the bitcoins held in the US back. to Bitfinex. Last summer, at the bitcoin 2024 Conference in Nashville, Donald Trump pledged to create a national strategic bitcoin reserve using bitcoins already held by the government obtained from hacks, seizures, etc. According to Arkham Intelligence dataThe United States currently holds 198,109 bitcoins worth more than $20.1 billion. If these coins are returned to Bitfinex, that would reduce Trump's promised strategic reserve by 47.77%, to 103,466 btc.

BREAKING NEWS: DONALD TRUMP COMMITS TO NEVER SELL <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#bitcoin AND KEEP IT AS A STRATEGIC RESERVE ASSET IF YOU ARE ELECTED PRESIDENT pic.twitter.com/bbPRxlZfGZ

– bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1817307986848813302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 27, 2024

It makes me optimistic to think that if the government is going to acquire massive amounts of bitcoins in the near and long-term future, then I would like them to start from as close to 0 as possible, because that would require them to buy into the market. more and raise the price. The bitcoin must be returned in kind, according to the court document, meaning those coins will not need to be sold for dollars, alleviating any downward pressure on the price of bitcoin due to that sale. Furthermore, returning bitcoin to its rightful owner seems like the right thing to do, and I'm sure Bitfinex will be happy to get your coins back.

However, if the US government is going to buy bitcoin en masse for a strategic reserve, then the legislation proposed by Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis should become law. As evident from Trump's promise, he would initially keep the seized bitcoin on the government's balance sheet as a strategic reserve, with the potential to acquire more btc through other methods, but he made no concrete promises in this regard. The bill proposed by Senator Lummis would see the United States purchase 200,000 bitcoins per year, for 5 years, until it has accumulated a total of 1,000,000 bitcoins.

JUST IN: US Senator Cynthia Lummis outlines strategies <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#bitcoin Reservation plan: "buy 200k btc per year for five years. 1 million btc in total." pic.twitter.com/57ofJhc8X0

– bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1859618962092216660?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>November 21, 2024

Regardless of how all this plays out, the strategic bitcoin reserve will be bullish for the country and for bitcoin in general. Obviously, Senator Lummis's bill would be much more optimistic about the possible outcomes, because he would buy back on the market all the bitcoins he plans to return to Bitfinex, and then 905,357 more btc. That amount of pure buying demand would likely cause the price of bitcoin to skyrocket, especially when other governments around the world start buying as well to keep up with our government purchases.

Even if Lummis' bill doesn't come to fruition and we only get the stockpile that Trump promised, I think that's enough for other governments, FOMO, to create their own stockpile as well.

Only about 450 new bitcoins are mined each day, and with institutional purchases of bitcoins already outpacing the new supply of btc mined this year, things could get really crazy, really fast. Fasten your seatbelt.

ONLY IN: Corporate lawsuit <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#bitcoin is already exceeding the supply of new bitcoins this year

Bullish pic.twitter.com/PyKk9Aci93

– bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1878854477488570386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 13, 2025

This article is a Carry. The opinions expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of btc Inc or bitcoin Magazine.