Forget Fort Knox: Trump’s bold crypto bet
03 March 2025
After a volatile month of February, Trump reassures the market by unveiling new details on the U.S. crypto strategic reserve.
Bottom line
President Trump wants to have “made-in-America” digital assets in the country’s crypto strategic reserve. As the landscape is evolving rapidly, other nations will have to respond. Trump follows through on his commitments, fostering further positive developments in the ecosystem.
What happened
On Sunday 2 March 2025, President Donald Trump provided further details on his administration’s plan to establish a U.S. crypto strategic reserve. The reserve will initially hold five major digital assets: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Cardano (ADA). This selection highlights Trump’s preference for blockchain protocols with U.S. founders and development teams—aside from Bitcoin and Ethereum, which are global but unavoidable due to their size and market dominance.
Trump’s endorsement of a state-backed crypto reserve aligns with his broader objective of making the United States the global hub for blockchain innovation. The inclusion of smart contracts and payment-focused protocols suggests a commitment beyond Bitcoin as a store-of-value asset, contrary to initial expectations that it would be the sole crypto held by the government.
Adding a layer of intrigue, the announcement comes ahead of Trump’s upcoming Crypto Summit (scheduled for 7 March 2025), where he is expected to outline regulatory policies aimed at fostering blockchain innovation while ensuring national economic security.
Impact on our Investment Case
The announcement marks a historic shift in the U.S. government’s stance on digital assets. Once again, the United States is taking the lead, while other regions remain locked in bureaucratic debates and endless proof-of-concept trials. Similar to the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence, the U.S. recognizes that blockchain is a technology better controlled by them than by others. Having said that, critical questions remain regarding the crypto reserve’s funding and implementation.
How will the reserve be built?
Trump’s announcement coincides with his administration’s renewed skepticism regarding the Fort Knox gold reserves. Trump and his team want to “make sure that gold is there”, echoing long-standing conspiracy theories. While they have questions about physical gold, the creation of a crypto reserve further legitimizes Bitcoin’s positioning as digital gold.
One potential mechanism for funding the reserve could involve reevaluating the U.S. gold stockpile through gold certificates, effectively backing a portion of the strategic crypto reserve with gold. This mirrors the approach proposed in the Bitcoin Act of 2024, which aimed to acquire 1 million Bitcoins using a similar structure. The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.
Beyond funding, questions about governance and custody arise: Will the Federal Reserve be involved? If so, this could be perceived as an attack on its independence, requiring Congressional approval. Could the reserve bypass the Fed? An alternative approach would be investing federal assets in a structure managed in partnership with U.S. asset managers. Regardless of the method, the strategic reserve would mark a fundamental shift in the U.S. approach to financial reserves and digital assets.
The next phase: stablecoins to reinforce dollar supremacy?
Beyond the reserve, the next logical step in the U.S. government’s crypto roadmap could be stablecoin regulation—a move that aligns with the executive order dated 23 January 2025.
The creation of the U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve serves as a strong signal: If the U.S. government is accumulating crypto, why should anyone else be afraid to do so? Stablecoins, on the other hand, offer a scalable mechanism to deploy blockchain technology at the consumer level while reinforcing U.S. financial hegemony.
If USD-denominated stablecoins are used in most digital transactions, the U.S. dollar's dominance will be reinforced, making global de-dollarization efforts more difficult. Moreover, the United States could impose stablecoin issuers to acquire U.S. treasury bills and notes. This would indirectly finance the government deficit and Trump's agenda.
Our Takeaway
Trump’s U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve is undeniably bullish for the industry, forcing regulators and financial institutions worldwide to reassess their stance on digital assets. This is also true closer to home, in Switzerland, where members of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) have been vocal in criticizing the Bitcoin initiative.
Despite recent market headwinds, including tariff-related fears and the ByBit exchange hack (which resulted in $1.5 billion likely stolen by North Korea), Trump’s latest move underscores the industry’s future catalysts.
From an investment perspective, our Blockchain strategy remains well-positioned to capitalize on these developments. We maintain a relative overweight on crypto exchanges and firms leveraging digital assets for treasury management, with a focus on aligning with U.S. policy shifts.
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