US Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump made his much-anticipated appearance at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville on July 27. Trump made several promises to the crypto voters in attendance, including what he would do to the US government’s Bitcoin holdings if elected. 

During the Bitcoin conference, Trump stated that if elected, his administration would implement a policy mandating the US government to keep “100%” of the Bitcoin it currently holds or acquires. Trump made this statement while remarking that the government has, up until now, “violated a cardinal rule that every Bitcoiner knows by heart,” which is never to sell their BTC.

Data from the on-chain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence shows that the US government currently holds 213,239 BTC ($14.87 billion). However, the government is known to have offloaded some of its holdings in the past, with its last confirmed sale coming in April when it sold 1,754 BTC. 

Trump’s plan for the US to hold all of its Bitcoin holdings undoubtedly provides a bullish outlook for Bitcoin, considering the impact that the US government’s BTC sales have had on the token’s price in the past. Moreover, the US holds the most Bitcoin among all governments. Therefore, such a move could remove a significant amount of Bitcoin from circulation for a considerable period. 

It is worth noting that most of the US government’s Bitcoin holdings came about through the seizures made from the dark web marketplace Silk Road, which Ross Ulbricht created. Interestingly, Trump again reaffirmed his promise to commute Ulbricht’s sentence if he is elected. 

However, even if he eventually becomes a free man, it remains unlikely that Ulbricht will be able to recover the 50,591 BTC that was reportedly recovered from the hacker who stole Ulbricht and Silk Road in a previous hack. This is because the Silk Road founder forfeited claims to these funds in 2022 to offset the unpaid balance of his money judgment. 

Before the conference, Trump had already affirmed his support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This led to several predictions that Bitcoin could reach unprecedented heights if Trump wins the US presidential elections in November. For instance, Standard Chartered predicted that Bitcoin could reach $150,000 by year-end if the former President wins. 

A Trump victory is also expected to usher in clearer and more favorable crypto regulations, which will undoubtedly positively impact crypto prices. This is most likely to happen, seeing how the US Securities and Exchange’s (SEC) regulation by enforcement approach has left a sour taste on the crypto market. Interestingly, Trump promised to fire the SEC chair, Gary Gensler, who has spearheaded this approach from the Commission so far. 

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