Bitcoin turns lower with Trump action vague on crypto reserve
Thursday’s order did not specifically mention Bitcoin and instead referenced digital currencies
BITCOIN turned negative after President Donald Trump’s executive actions establishing a working group on digital assets fell short of expectations.
The executive order creates a working group that will advise the White House on digital asset policy and evaluate the creation of a digital asset stockpile, which could be made up of cryptocurrencies the government seizes in investigations. Trump signed the order on Thursday (Jan 23) in Washington with White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks present.
“What crypto twitter wanted is very different from what reality is,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of crypto fund Split Capital. “If you think about it, even buying one Bitcoin by the US government will be extremely reflective because all other governments will follow and buy it. Evaluating a potential national digital asset stockpile is as optimistic as real news could be.”
The largest cryptocurrency by market value had initially edged marginally higher after Trump signed the executive order and had earlier climbed as high as 2.7 per cent to US$106,850, but later pared these gains after the details of the order were released. Bitcoin is currently down less than 1 per cent.
The industry had been hopeful that Trump would issue an executive order related to crypto on his first day in office. When that did not happen, token prices fell on Monday after reaching a record high.
Bloomberg had previously reported that Trump was considering various crypto-related executive orders.
Bitcoin also pared gains earlier on Thursday after news from Senator Cynthia Lummis’ social media post did not turn out as speculated on. Some market participants were expecting an announcement on a national Bitcoin reserve. A follow up post showed Lummis was named the chair of the Senate Banking’s new digital asset subcommittee, which was widely expected.
Thursday’s order did not specifically mention Bitcoin and instead referenced digital currencies. BLOOMBERG
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