Trump Announces U.S. Crypto Reserve, Boosting 'Crypto Barons' And His Own Struggling Memecoin

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Mar. 03, 2025

President Trump on Sunday announced plans for the US to launch a "crypto strategic reserve," which sent the price of Bitcoin and his own memecoin surging.

"A U.S. Crypto Reserve will elevate this critical industry after years of corrupt attacks by the Biden Administration, which is why my Executive Order on Digital Assets directed the Presidential Working Group to move forward on a Crypto Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, SOL, and ADA," Trump announced Sunday on Truth Social. "I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World."

"And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable Cryptocurrencies, will be the heart of the Reserve. I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!" Trump added in a follow-up post.

Trump's memecoin is based on Solana (SOL). His $TRUMP coin, which had a meteoric rise after he first launched it, has collapsed in price over the past two months.

It surged from $13.46 to $17.46 shortly after his announcement, though it has since fallen back to around $15.

The price of Bitcoin, which had been falling precipitously over the past week, surged to $95,136 on the news before easing off to around $92,000.

"This is a direct transfer of wealth from the U.S. treasury to David Sacks and other crypto barons," Ryan Grim commented in response to the news. "The railroad and coal tycoons of the 19th century could never have dreamed of this level of heist."

This is a direct transfer of wealth from the U.S. treasury to David Sacks and other crypto barons.

The railroad and coal tycoons of the 19th century could never have dreamed of this level of heist https://t.co/FkLTEOXD6O
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 2, 2025

Sacks is claiming he sold all his holdings in crypto and Bitwise ETF prior to the start of the administration, though his website still lists Bitwise as part of their portfolio.

This community note is a lie. I had a $74k position in the Bitwise ETF which I sold on January 22. I do not have “large indirect holdings.” I’ll provide an update at the end of the ethics process. pic.twitter.com/gwuVjL2HA5
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) March 3, 2025

Many are questioning whether there was insider trading ahead of the announcement:

Jaw-dropping corruption in the US:

Trump's billionaire crypto czar is heavily invested in a fund whose top 5 holdings are the 5 in the US government Crypto Strategic Reserve.

Mere hours before Trump announced it, someone bought $200 million in Ethereum & Bitcoin on 50X LEVERAGE pic.twitter.com/LQWZceeTvB
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 3, 2025

I'll say it again: The blatant corruption and looting in the US today is like what was done to Russia in the 1990s -- but this time, the USA is doing it to itself.

The US government was always run on behalf of oligarchs, but now the oligarchs are directly in charge. It's pillage
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 3, 2025

This is unusual:

24 hours ago, someone took $200,000,000 worth of Ethereum and Bitcoin longs on 50x leverage.

This meant even a 2% drop in Bitcoin would liquidate $200M.

Today, President Trump announced the US Crypto Reserve including BTC and ETH.

Did someone know? https://t.co/moTTnqmSWY pic.twitter.com/nktfVJWw5v
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 2, 2025

Some are claiming that too is just a coincidence (it merits investigation regardless).

I tracked this guy's wallet and it turns out he got his funds from phishing and is a roobet whale. He also closed his longs before the Trump second announcement missing out on tens of millions

Turns out he's just a gambler with stolen funds and not someone with inside info https://t.co/PZRKEme1Pe
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) March 2, 2025

Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick is also a major crypto investor.

From CNN last week, "A crypto mogul who invested millions into Trump coins is getting a reprieve on civil fraud charges":

A businessman who pumped $75 million into the Trump family-backed crypto token finds himself in a fortunate position this week as federal securities regulators are hitting pause on their civil fraud case against him.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justin Sun, a 34-year-old Chinese crypto entrepreneur, asked a federal judge to put the agency's case on hold, citing the interests of both sides and "the public's interest."

The pause is a 180 for the SEC, America's top financial regulator, which two years ago charged Sun and his companies — Tron, BitTorrent and Rainberry — with selling unregistered securities and fraudulently manipulating the price of digital token Tronix. Sun and his companies sought to have the case dismissed.

Sun is a polarizing figure within the world of crypto, in which he has become one of the most prominent investors in the World Liberty Financial crypto project, backed by the Trump family. Sun's $75 million purchase of World Liberty tokens, which he's touted in social media posts, could set the Trump family up to eventually collect tens of millions of dollars, as the family is entitled to 75% of the tokens' revenues, according to the company. Sun is also an official adviser to World Liberty, which lists President Donald Trump as its "chief crypto advocate" and his son Barron as its "DeFi visionary."

World Liberty is just one of several crypto projects the president and his family have set up in recent months, raising concerns about potential corruption. By its nature, crypto offers a particularly easy way to, anonymously or otherwise, funnel money into assets that directly benefit the president and his family.

If Biden was engaging in these shady dealings, people would rightly be throwing a fit.

I questioned when Trump launched his memecoin if he was going to want to put the interests of the US dollar before his newfound crypto empire. It appears the answer is "No."

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