Key Takeaways
- Donald Trump’s nominee for crypto and AI czar, David Sacks, has addressed plans for crypto’s golden age and the potential creation of a Bitcoin reserve.
- Trump’s executive order on cryptocurrencies has put Sacks squarely in charge of a working group created to establish rules of the road for US cryptocurrencies and their issuers.
- The Congress and the Senate will need to create a bicameral working group to advance crypto legislation and leaders from both bodies.
US AI and crypto Czar David Sacks has addressed plans to ensure America dominates the digital asset industry and has begun implementing a plan to build a Bitcoin reserve for the country.
Addressing a press conference in Washington DC, Sacks said the evaluation of the bitcoin reserve was one of the primary tasks for the working group on digital asset markets. The creation of a national Bitcoin reserve was included in the list of campaign promises of the US President. Calling BTC “an excellent store of value,” Sacks called Bitcoin:
“It’s the strongest digital currency. […] No one has hacked its security.”
No More Arbitrarily Prosecutions
Other significant participants during the event included Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn’ G.T’ Thompson.
The press conference centered on issues surrounding the emerging cryptocurrency sector, which has faced serious policy issues in the US, forcing many would-be innovators to operate from abroad. The US SEC has taken a heavy-handed approach when dealing with the sector. Sacks acknowledges that the lack of a clear regulatory framework led to punitive measures that stifled the American crypto industry. Sack stated that:
“We’re coming off, frankly, four years of arbitrary prosecution and persecution of crypto companies.”
Establishing a Bitcoin Reserve
The crypto Czar revealed that the working group would be taking steps to develop a clear regulatory framework that will prioritize consumer protection and help achieve Trump’s dream of making the US the home of digital asset innovation. He said another benefit would be bringing digital asset innovation back to American soil besides helping to weed out the bad actors in the space. Sacks said:
“We want to keep that innovation onshore in the U.S. Financial assets are destined to become digital, just like every analog industry has become digital, and we want that value creation to happen in the United States rather than giving it away to other countries.”
Sacks revealed that the team would be working alongside the leaders of the congressional committees on digital assets legislation to ensure they tackle a broad pro-crypto agenda. Regarding the progress of plans to establish a national Bitcoin reserve, Sacks stated:
“As soon as we get all that set up […] we’re still in the very early stages of this […] one of the first things we’re going to look at is the feasibility of a Bitcoin reserve.”
Conclusion
The flagship cryptocurrency and the rest of the digital asset market reacted positively to the announcement by Sacks, with Bitcoin surging to $100,400 before returning to the $98,000 mark. On his belief in Bitcoin’s exalted position, the crypto Czar told journalists,
“Bitcoin was the first digital currency—the original and the first of its kind. No one has ever hacked it or compromised its security, making it an excellent store of value.”
