4 ms·

Establishment of the strategic Bitcoin reserve and US digital asset stockpile

28 points by pseudolus 2y ago

kevinventullo 2y ago
“…the United States Government shall not acquire additional Stockpile Assets other than in connection with criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings or in satisfaction of any civil money penalty imposed by any agency without further executive or legislative action.”
- jfim 2y ago
  That's interesting, it basically means that the coins that are seized are basically out of the market, increasing the value of the coins left in circulation. However, at some point the US government could start to liquidate a large position, causing a downward pressure on prices. I wonder how large this stockpile is compared to the total number of coins in circulation.
  - mtnGoat 2y ago
    So basically nothing is changing, because in theory any of those agencies could have sold those in the past and some did. Now it’s just centralizing control… kind of ironic for a decentralized currency.
  - sschueller 2y ago
    How long until the keys are lost?
- krfsm 2y ago
  Does that last bit about "any civil money penalty" mean you can pay your fines with your own meme coin at face value, without having to sell them and thereby tank the value?
- jacinabox 2y ago
  that's nice, but the US digital asset stockpile is not the strategic bitcoin reserve. The sentence that controls acquisition in the strategic bitcoin reserve is the one before it: 'The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce shall develop strategies for acquiring additional Government BTC provided that such strategies are budget neutral and do not impose incremental costs on United States taxpayers.' I wonder what budget neutral means. Does it mean that they have to find spending cuts in other areas in order to acquire additional BTC?
avidiax 2y ago
Sounds like a wealth transfer to anyone holding Bitcoin. And probably another constitutional crisis if he tries to spend federal money to buy Bitcoin without congressional approval, even if that's not in his order. Perhaps he's trying to return to a combined crypto+gold standard?
- netsharc 2y ago
  > Perhaps he's trying to return to a combined crypto+gold standard? I'm pretty sure Trump's too dumb to understand the arguments why such a system would be good, if anything it'd be all the crypto-bro billionaires who made their boy Vance VP. Or perhaps it's just all a pump and dump for them...
  - avidiax 2y ago
    He seems to be emulating McKinley, down to using tarriffs to pressure Canada into being the 51st state, and the Gold Standard Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Standard_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Standard_Act
    - timeon 2y ago
      > He seems to be He is 79 years old, I do not thing that it is he who is emulating. Rather people who told him to do that.
- waych 2y ago
  Given that this strategic reserve is to be built from all the various civil and criminal asset forfeitures, and not actually buying any crypto currency, how exactly is this considered a "wealth transfer"? This is centralizing governance of forfeited assets from across the many agencies that are currently holding wallets with no direction, into a single place: the Treasury. This seems far favorable to letting various (430+) agencies manage these valuable assets on their own where they can easily be lost, stolen, etc.
  - wmf 2y ago
abirch 2y ago
Remember this is an executive order. The next president can sell them all to pay for a pet project.
- jxjnskkzxxhx 2y ago
  Remember when trump used to criticise Obama because he used too many executive orders?
  - pazimzadeh 2y ago
    Not just trump but all republicans. They also used to criticize Obama for saying he’s willing to meet and talk to Putin.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
torlok 2y ago
Is it normal that the background section reads like a random Reddit post?
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
Some thoughts: The Strategic Crypto Swindle https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43270398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43270398 Trump's 'Crypto Reserve' Is Such Brazen Corruption https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43261899 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43261899 The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43236752 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43236752
rickslocum565 2y ago
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28 points by pseudolus 2y ago

“…the United States Government shall not acquire additional Stockpile Assets other than in connection with criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings or in satisfaction of any civil money penalty imposed by any agency without further executive or legislative action.”

jfim 2y ago
That's interesting, it basically means that the coins that are seized are basically out of the market, increasing the value of the coins left in circulation. However, at some point the US government could start to liquidate a large position, causing a downward pressure on prices. I wonder how large this stockpile is compared to the total number of coins in circulation.
- mtnGoat 2y ago
  So basically nothing is changing, because in theory any of those agencies could have sold those in the past and some did. Now it’s just centralizing control… kind of ironic for a decentralized currency.
- sschueller 2y ago
  How long until the keys are lost?
krfsm 2y ago
Does that last bit about "any civil money penalty" mean you can pay your fines with your own meme coin at face value, without having to sell them and thereby tank the value?
jacinabox 2y ago
that's nice, but the US digital asset stockpile is not the strategic bitcoin reserve. The sentence that controls acquisition in the strategic bitcoin reserve is the one before it: 'The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce shall develop strategies for acquiring additional Government BTC provided that such strategies are budget neutral and do not impose incremental costs on United States taxpayers.' I wonder what budget neutral means. Does it mean that they have to find spending cuts in other areas in order to acquire additional BTC?

avidiax 2y ago

Sounds like a wealth transfer to anyone holding Bitcoin. And probably another constitutional crisis if he tries to spend federal money to buy Bitcoin without congressional approval, even if that's not in his order. Perhaps he's trying to return to a combined crypto+gold standard?

netsharc 2y ago
> Perhaps he's trying to return to a combined crypto+gold standard? I'm pretty sure Trump's too dumb to understand the arguments why such a system would be good, if anything it'd be all the crypto-bro billionaires who made their boy Vance VP. Or perhaps it's just all a pump and dump for them...
- avidiax 2y ago
  He seems to be emulating McKinley, down to using tarriffs to pressure Canada into being the 51st state, and the Gold Standard Act. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Standard_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Standard_Act
  - timeon 2y ago
    > He seems to be He is 79 years old, I do not thing that it is he who is emulating. Rather people who told him to do that.
waych 2y ago
Given that this strategic reserve is to be built from all the various civil and criminal asset forfeitures, and not actually buying any crypto currency, how exactly is this considered a "wealth transfer"? This is centralizing governance of forfeited assets from across the many agencies that are currently holding wallets with no direction, into a single place: the Treasury. This seems far favorable to letting various (430+) agencies manage these valuable assets on their own where they can easily be lost, stolen, etc.
- wmf 2y ago

abirch 2y ago

Remember this is an executive order. The next president can sell them all to pay for a pet project.

jxjnskkzxxhx 2y ago
Remember when trump used to criticise Obama because he used too many executive orders?
- pazimzadeh 2y ago
  Not just trump but all republicans. They also used to criticize Obama for saying he’s willing to meet and talk to Putin.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

torlok 2y ago

Is it normal that the background section reads like a random Reddit post?

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

Some thoughts: The Strategic Crypto Swindle https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43270398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43270398 Trump's 'Crypto Reserve' Is Such Brazen Corruption https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43261899 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43261899 The “strategic reserve” exposes crypto as the scam it always was https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43236752 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43236752

rickslocum565 2y ago

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