Bitcoin briefly hit $100,000 in December and was hovering around $90,000 last week
President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve and a stockpile of other digital assets on Thursday. The move comes a day before the White House gets ready to host its first crypto summit today, which will see executives from the industry.
The US currently holds 198,000 bitcoins worth roughly $17 billion, according to Arkham, and has around 56 ether tokens worth almost $119 million. The Treasury Department will set up offices to handle the digital and other assets.
But bitcoin fell to $84,688 shortly after the news. The digital currency’s last decline was by 3%, which saw the crypto at $87,586, according to Coin Metrics. Other cryptocurrencies like ether, XRP, and Solana’s SOL token also dropped by 2%, 1%, and 3%, respectively, while Cardano’s ADA token dove by 13%.
Reason for the decline
While crypto executives praised Trump’s move, investors started dumping their coins over the belief that the US would have no immediate need to purchase more bitcoins.
But the White House AI and cryptocurrency czar, David Sachs, explained in an X post that the reserve will hold bitcoins and other tokens confiscated by law enforcement and that the move won’t cost taxpayers.
President Trump’s order read that since BTC has a fixed supply, there is an “advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve.”
Bitcoin briefly hit $100,000 in December and was hovering around $90,000 last week. Analysts warn that if it doesn’t maintain that level, it risks going down to $70,000. JPMorgan says the crypto market may not see bigger hits in the near future due to broader economic uncertainty and weakening demand.