US President Donald Trump’s crypto liaison has confirmed that the administration is still keen on a strategic Bitcoin reserve, despite it not being mentioned in a recently published crypto policy report.
“We do believe in accumulation,” said Robert “Bo” Hines, the executive director of the US President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, said in an interview on Crypto in America on Wednesday, when asked about the US strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve.
“We have it, it’s been established […] we also have the strategic national digital assets stockpile,” he said, adding that Bitcoin is in “a class of its own and everyone recognizes that.”
He also said that the administration wants to “give credence” to the work and developments happening across other ecosystems, but did not mention any other digital assets or platforms.
Hines said that building the infrastructure takes time and labor to ensure it’s done the right way and has long-term success, and there are “countless ways” that we can accumulate.
“I think that people will be very pleased with the direction that we are going, and we’ll start moving on that in short order,” he said.
Bitcoin reserve not found in White House report
The President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets released recommendations to “strengthen American leadership in digital Financial Technology” on Wednesday, but the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was not mentioned.
Related: Trump White House releases long-promised crypto report
Hines said that the priorities and focus, as outlined in the report, were to create a clear and robust regulatory framework.
“We understand the importance of the strategic Bitcoin reserve, we’re enormous fans of Bitcoin and the Bitcoin community, we want to deliver for them as well, and I’m certain that we will.”
We want as much BTC as we can possibly get
When asked how much Bitcoin the federal government has, Hines said, “I can’t discuss that right now.”
“There are several reasons we’re not disclosing that right now, there might be a time when we do, but I will say we want as much as we can possibly get […] and we’re going to continue to work on that.”
The US government holds an estimated 198,000 BTC worth around $2.35 billion, according to Nansen.
President Trump signed the executive order officially establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and US Digital Asset Stockpile in March.
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