Trump's bitcoin reserve a 'digital Fort Knox'
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" in the United States is further proof of President Donald Trump's support for the cryptocurrency sector.
Trump earlier this month signed an executive order establishing the reserve, which White House crypto chief David Sacks has likened to «a digital Fort Knox», comparing it to the stockpiling of gold bars at the US military base.
Gold is held in reserves by countries worldwide as the metal is seen as a safe-haven asset, protecting against financial instability such as high inflation.
The metal on Friday surpassed $3,000 per ounce for the first time, boosted by an uncertain economic outlook amid Trump's tariffs.
Gold reserves can help also stabilise a country's currency, while bars are used as collateral for loans and transactions.
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How will US bitcoin reserve work?
It is to be funded by about 200,000 bitcoins, worth around $17 billion in total, that have been seized in the United States as a result of civil and criminal cases.
The reserve will be virtually secured for an indefinite time.
Additional bitcoin can be added to the reserve as long as such action is «budget-neutral», thus not costing the taxpayer.
Announcement fails to impress
The price of bitcoin initially slid after Trump signed the executive order but has since stabilised.
Analysts have blamed the lack of support on a failure to immediately buy more bitcoin.
Dessislava Aubert, an analyst at crypto data provider Kaiko, told AFP that «legally» the US government must return bitcoin to all victims identified as suffering from a hack.
According to Aubert, «a big chunk» of the bitcoin held by the United States — estimated at around 198,000 tokens — would have to be returned to victims of a hack at crypto exchange