Trump’s 'Crypto Reserve' Is Such Brazen Corruption
Trump plans to use your money to buy fake money – benefiting the crypto donors who helped put him back in the White House.
It’s hard to think of an example of political corruption more brazen than the president of the United States announcing a plan to use government money to buy cryptocurrency tokens for a “strategic reserve.” But that’s exactly what President Donald Trump did over the weekend, announcing that he will follow through on a campaign promise to establish a national cryptocurrency reserve that includes tokens like Solana, Cardano, XRP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum. The former three tokens are popular among Trump’s crypto industry and tech allies – and the president himself. The $TRUMP shitcoin released during inauguration weekend was made on the Solana blockchain, as was the $MELANIA token.
This wouldn’t just be a giveaway to Trump’s crypto donors, who would see their bags swell if the federal government started buying crypto. It would be pure self-dealing for Trump and his sons, who have embraced crypto’s money-from-nothing potential with ventures like World Liberty Financial and Trump Media’s forthcoming fintech investment fund. The benefits for them have been obvious. Besides the $TRUMP token – which potentially yielded nearly $100 million in fees and profits for Trump-world figures on the inside of the pump-and-dump – World Liberty Financial has received $75 million from Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. Last week, Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission, now purged of its Biden-era crypto enforcement team, dropped its fraud case against Sun. This system of payola works just as it was designed.
Pro-Trump Techies Push Back
Signaling what this crypto reserve is really all about, token prices spiked significantly after Trump’s announcement. Some whales – huge bagholders – made large, suspiciously timed trades that raised questions about whether there was any foreknowledge of the announcement. But the pump didn’t last long. Within 24 hours, token prices had slid to about what they were before the president’s announcement as even some prominent Trump tech allies started questioning the initiative.
“Taxation is theft. It should be kept to a minimum,” wrote venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale on X. “It’s wrong to steal my money for grift on the left; it’s also wrong to tax me for crypto bro schemes.”
“Nobody announced a tax or a spending program,” responded David Sacks, the venture capitalist serving as Trump’s AI & crypto czar, who has invested in crypto companies through his venture-capital firm Craft Ventures, including ones involved with Solana. Sacks said that he has sold his personal crypto holdings. “Maybe you should wait to find out what’s actually being proposed.”
The money has to come from somewhere. Asked on X to clarify what exactly is being proposed, Sacks didn’t respond.
Tangled Hypocrises
Crypto helped get Trump back to the White House.