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The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was
- herodotus 2y agoIncredible conflict of interest here.
- alsoforgotmypwd 2y agoAnd probably emoluments too.
- sega_sai 2y agoWhile I completely agree crypto is full of shysters and most likely crypto has zero intrinsic value, as well the current administration tries to enrich itself through crypto, I disagree that recent change in prices after announcement proves it is a scam. Because if the government would have announced a strategic reserve in maple syrup, the syrup futures would have increased in price drastically as well.
- schwarzrules 2y agoWas curious if a maple reserve existed. looks like Canada is leading the charge on that one: https://ppaq.ca/en/sale-purchase-maple-syrup/worlds-only-reserve-maple-syrup/ https://ppaq.ca/en/sale-purchase-maple-syrup/worlds-only-res...
- wolfgang42 2y agoFamously subject of the biggest heist in Canadian history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Heist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Hei...
- Eddy_Viscosity2 2y agoStrategic reserves for actual physical commodities makes some sense. Then can reduce the volatility in markets due to sudden unexpected market shocks. In the case of maple syrup that might mean a stretch of really bad harvests. But digital currency is made up. It isn't 'needed' for anything. So there is no sense to have a strategic reserve.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> there is no sense to have a strategic reserve FX reserves. (Doesn’t apply here. But stockpiling social constructs can still make sense.)
- Eddy_Viscosity2 2y agoI think the closet example here would be if the Federal Government had started a "beanie babies" strategic reserve back in the 90s.
- sadeshmukh 2y agoAll currency is made up, and even physical reserves (gold) have very little intrinsic value. Bitcoin is just another one.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 2y agoYes, this is true. The federal government already has the US dollar. It does not need "another one". Why would it?
- desumeku 2y agoIt's not about "needing" another one. The "other one" is already here, whether you think you need it or not. Will America play the leading role in how the world reacts to its existence, or will someone else beat them to being first? The answer was already decided. Welcome to the future.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 2y agoBeating them to being first at what? The first to sink taxpayer resources into buying the latest meme coin? The first to provide a taxpayer funded bailout for crypto-bros? This is precisely the sort of 'waste and corruption' that the new administration should be getting away from, not diving into.
- kolchinski 2y agoOh yeah agreed that the change in prices doesn't prove it's a scam, my thought was more along the lines of - when crypto insiders who have been talking up crypto as valuable/important because it's independent of the government quickly change their tune and cheer on government intervention when it goes into their pockets, it makes it pretty clear what the dynamic actually is.
- desumeku 2y agoLumping an entire industry into a single convenient strawman isn't very good for you.
- 77pt77 2y ago> crypto has zero intrinsic value So do fiat currencies.
- arbitrary_name 2y agoYou need fiat to pay your taxes.
- bdangubic 2y agoor go to jail :)
- citadel_melon 2y agoUSD is used and is useful for transacting — especially in global markets — because of its high trading volume, stability, limited/no capital flow restrictions, federal reserve’s monetary policy to favor neither exporting or importing (meaning they will not chose to intentionally deflate or inflate the dollar’s value to favor/disfavor certain industries), and also USD’s global acceptance. On the other hand, people don’t usually transact with BitCoin because of its volatility and because BitCoin’s currency deflation. I’m also almost certain Bitcoin protocols couldn’t keep up with global transactions even if the currency did stabilize. One last point (there are way too many to write them all here) is that there will be no incentive for people to verify blocks when all 21 billion coins are completely mined. Bitcoin is a game of betting there is a bigger sucker who comes after you. Bitcoin whales realized that the government is the biggest sucker of them all. It’s ironic to me that they have lobbied so hard for the government to subsidize their assets when they have been preaching libertarian idolatry for years.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mcosta 2y agoThe USA military/industrial complex does not agree.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoIntrinsic vale is not a prerequisite for utility. USD has no intrinsic value. Yes, you can pay your taxes with it. That is a contingent value. The only intrinsic value of crypto is that it can not be unilaterally inflated away, and can be difficult to digitally seize. In this respect it is similar to gold. It lacks the physical uses of gold, but is easier to transport. No, I don't think the US government should invest in it. It should make sure it's own currency retains value.
- RealStickman_ 2y agoUSD is backed by the US economy and a significant portion of global trade. BTC is backed by hopes, dreams and market speculation.
- desumeku 2y agoCorrection: The USD is backed by a ponzi scheme where people who put money in have to rely on the USA being able to get more out to pay debt. If it fails at this at any point (which has nearly happened dozens of times!) then the entire thing collapses and suddenly the "world reserve currency" isn't as much "currency" as it is pieces of paper and digital ledger entries. Ironic, isn't it?
- s1artibartfast 2y agoWhat point are you making in relation to what I said? USD can still be devalued.
- RealStickman_ 2y agoMy point is that the USD has some inherent value, while BTC has none.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoI think BTC has some advantages in the attributes I described in my parent post. Inherent or not depends on how far are you willing to stretch your assumptions.
- JeremyNT 2y agoThis is actually a re-announcement of something already announced! The only difference here is mentioning of specific cryptocurrencies. Prove? That's a high bar to clear. But this is a spike at merely reiterating a bailout plan.
- tdeck 2y agoWe are coming to the end of the era where you could avoid major exposure to crypto speculation by simply not "investing" in it. When the government and major banks and top S&P500 companies are putting their money in crypto, just imagine the damage the next bubble pop will inevitably cause.
- xtracto 2y agoI have a theory that the volatility we have seen in crypto historically is due to the influence that speculators have in the price of the asset given the % of speculator vs non-speculator money sunk into BTC As more and more "non-speculator" money enters BTC, the swings in the price will decrease. I see the "rainbow chart" as a backing to this theory. It shows how the price has been slowly settling . In 25 years we should have a very stable deflating BTC price.
- r3ctilinear 2y agoExactly. People forget that btc is still in price discovery. A brand new global monetary standard isn't priced by edict, the market must figure it out. Of course it's volatile, if it were smooth/predictable then this predictability would be exploited by traders and it would cease being predictable.
- horsawlarway 2y agoBut this is just more "speculator" money... if I'm being pessimistic, this is an outright scam play to make the early speculators filthy rich by defrauding the US public out of their tax dollars. The whole freaking problem is that crypto turns out to suck absolute cock as a real method of paying for things (Said as someone who has actually paid for items with bitcoin, incl on the OG silk road...) How many of these folks investing in bitcoin have EVER bought a physical item at a physical store with it? Hell, even online stores... how many of these people are actually using these things as currency, instead of as pure speculation plays? The answer is a resounding "Almost no one". They're a complete crap way to pay for anything that's not literally illegal to buy. --- And there is no utility to the coins unless you're either buying things with them, or speculating that you can exchange them for more of a usable currency at a later time. Period.
- panarky 2y agoThe fact that scammers, fraudsters, Ponzi schemers and extortion racketeers have run trillions of dollars of swindles using US dollars is not evidence that the US dollar is a scam, a fraud, a Ponzi scheme or an extortion racket.
- peterldowns 2y agoCan anyone who is pro-crypto (particularly: btc, eth) make the steelman argument for why a "strategic reserve" is necessary for these cryptocurrencies? Or even beneficial? I've been involved in the industry in various ways for years and I fundamentally don't understand why the government owning a lot of btc/eth is advantageous. I understand the "reserve" part, but I don't understand the "strategic." I'm open to the idea that this could be both a good idea and a way to line insiders' pockets with US taxpayer money, but it really just looks like the latter to me. (I've been able to come up with a few theories but they all involve the complete destruction of value of the US dollar, and I don't understand how that would be net good for America.)
- quantadev 2y agoI can almost guarantee you most everyone who owns BTC will be 100% in favor of anything that will drive up it's price, because they falsely equate it's price as it's value. It has zero value despite it's price, just like beanie babies and Tulips always did.
- goosejuice 2y agoHow are you defining value here?
- quantadev 2y agoEverything that hodls it's desirability even after a grid-down scenario.
- goosejuice 2y agoIn such a scenario you wouldn't be able to use fiat either. Guns and food would be of greatest value. Maybe we should just reserve guns and ammo?
- quantadev 2y agoI never claimed fiat was an asset. Nobody considers cash an asset. I'm a software developer since 1990 so I recognize the value of blockchain technology, but I'm also smart enough to know a number in a computer ledger is not an asset.
- quantadev 2y agoIf tax dollars are ever used to buy cryptos, that's simply a transfer of wealth to the crypto sellers, in exchange for nothing in return. This is just another "Tax and Waste" policy. It's just money taken from one group just to give to some other group. It's immoral and illegal, because the gov't is not an investment bank.
- tanseydavid 2y agoWould you agree that the Strategic Oil Reserve has exactly the same qualities?
- hashmap 2y agoI dunno, can you fill your tank up with bitcoin when you need to get to work?
- QuadmasterXLII 2y agothat’s not “in exchange for nothing”, its in exchange for oil. not terribly complicated.
- roughly 2y agoThat depends on whether there’s a use for oil aside from as a tradable commodity, and additionally on whether there are scenarios in which we might need it for that potential use case in quantities that exceed our ability to easily acquire it.
- neilv 2y agoBigger picture, a genuine curious question: For the sake of argument, let's imagine a scenario in which, someday, a ridiculously, blatantly corrupt person became President. And Congress was aware, but had controlling majorities that, one way or another, were aligned with this situation. And the Supreme Court had already been started to be stacked by the same person. And various agencies under Executive branch, which might normally be able to push back, were being systematically gutted, and otherwise intimidated, including blatant reprisal against law enforcement officers for even investigating some past corruption case. And let's imagine that some oligarchs bought up a lot of Fourth Estate, and most of the rest of the Fourth Estate was decimated by other oligarch "disruptive tech", and tech oligarchs also control much of the remaining grassroots channels of communication. And lets imagine that, partly due to media manipulation by the oligarchs, the majority of the electorate, of all parties, had forgotten everything that they ever learned in Civics class. In this totally hypothetical situation-- but please bear with me, and imagine, for the sake of this fun intellectual exercise, that someday this could somehow happen in the US, in theory... What remaining US gov't checks and balances would there be? How could that corruption scenario be thwarted? (For example, is there a way for a minority in Congress to successfully bring charges? Does the FBI or some other agency have powers to investigate and intervene, below the radar? Does Judicial have any power to intervene, perhaps if petitioned? Do states have rights to contest the situation? What if there is also a treason angle; does that activate powers from anywhere else in the government to intervene?) If this scenario was discussed in Civics class, it flew right over my head at the time, but now seems interesting.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- goosejuice 2y agoIt's my understanding that the prevailing pro-crypto view is that it's a store of value not a payment system.
- alsoforgotmypwd 2y agoThat's the sucker view. It's only useful for transactions because it's too risky to hold.
- DennisP 2y agoThat's the view Bitcoin took, after they gave up on the kind of scaling they'd need to be a practical payment system. Ethereum is working hard on scaling beyond 100K tx/sec: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/01/23/l1l2future.html https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/01/23/l1l2future.html
- N_Lens 2y agoI hold crypto, mostly BTC, and think this is just another grabby move by the Trump administration that will ultimately harm crypto.
- karp773 2y agoWell, somebody has to HODL the bag at the end. Why not the taxpayers?
- xtracto 2y agoBetter yet, why not AMERICAN tax payers. I (non American) would be extremely happy for trump to pump BTC price so that I can sell my crypto at a 50x win. Thanks !
- jordanb 2y agoI'm assuming that next, the US will invest in a "Strategic Tesla stock reserve."
- toomuchtodo 2y agoI would not be opposed to the Federal Reserve buying VTI and distributing the dividends as UBI.
- tim333 2y agoI'm relieved TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins have not yet been included.
- throwaway48476 2y agoThe trump coin is on the chain of one of the announced reserve coins.
- alsoforgotmypwd 2y agoI'm fine with crypto for transactions, but I'm not fine with my government using our money to pick winners and losers, conflicts of interest, emoluments, or artificially propping up what are likely bubbles and pyramid schemes.
- jenifergomez 2y ago[dead]
- qgin 2y agoThe United States government is now officially betting against the United States Dollar.
- jxjnskkzxxhx 2y agoTrump has been willing to put his interests ahead of those of the US for a long time now.
- lolc 2y agoWow this is going to be epic! The US govt prints dollars to prop up cryptocoins! The sad thing is how this puts more money in the hands of bad people: This is inflating the holdings of shady orgs worldwide. And the way this admin has been bumbling its way into cleptocracy, I fully expect them to lose the keys later in a Mtgox scenario. Nobody will be able to explain how the funds were drained. They'd hired the best smart contract experts from the X roster, what more could they have done?
- dpc_01234 2y agoNotably, Bitcoiners are very upset about all the worthless shitcoins added to the BTC there. While the Ethereum is arguably decentralized, maybe, kind-of, the other ones: XRP, Solana, and Cardano, are basically centralized nonsense, that at best can be considered a payment system and not a decentralized commodity.
- bigyabai 2y agoBitcoiners are barking up the wrong tree - their blockchain is effectively unusable without L2 chains. There is pretty much no way to transact Bitcoin quickly or cheaply without acquiescing to a third-party service that could very well be centralized. Time will show us that all of them are shitcoins in the end. But don't take my word for it, just wait and see.
- dpc_01234 2y agoFor something "unusable" it sure seems weird that it's near all time highs, while fees are very low. Very weird. The real long term value is and always was due to a trustworthy, sovereign store of value properties. Trying to compete with Visa or Venmo, or enable online gambling is catchy, but does mean anything, as nothing there requires the underlying shitcoin asset. Stablecoins are far better at that, but it's hard to sell a sucker idea that the stabelcoin is going to "moon".
- bigyabai 2y ago"Very weird" is investing in a currency you can't use. Illiquidity is one thing - having to wait hours for an idempotent transaction to finish is a horse of a queer color. Bitcoin itself is a vehicle for second-layer chains, none of which have to abide by Bitcoin's principles of sovereignty or decentralization. I'll just let you down easy here, the strategy involved is little else than legitimizing a market rife with fraud. Call them shitcoins all you like, Trump is happy to treat them with the same "strategic" levity he attributes to Bitcoin. Are you sensing a pattern, at all?
- jxjnskkzxxhx 2y ago"bitcoin reserve" is the dumbest idea I've heard since "bitcoin".