Key Takeaways
- Trump mentioned XRP, SOL, and ADA due to their large market capitalizations.
- The assets are part of the proposed US Crypto Strategic Reserve initiative.
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Speaking on Bloomberg Television on Friday, White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks clarified that President Trump mentioned XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) in his earlier statement due to their positions among the top five crypto assets by market capitalization.
“The President just mentioned the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap,” said Sacks, when asked why the President mentioned those altcoins in his early statement. “I think people are just reading into it a little bit too much. He just mentioned the top five.”
XRP has a market cap of around $139 billion, currently ranking as the fourth largest crypto asset, according to CoinGecko data.
SOL stands at $72 billion in market cap, and ADA at $29.6 billion. If excluding stablecoins, SOL is now the fifth-largest crypto asset and ADA is the seventh.
Trump establishes digital asset stockpile without new purchases
President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a US digital asset stockpile, using seized crypto and not purchasing new tokens immediately.
The US Digital Asset Stockpile, operating separately, will hold non-Bitcoin digital assets. Unlike the Bitcoin reserve, the government won’t actively acquire additional crypto assets beyond seizures. The Treasury Secretary retains authority to sell these assets when deemed necessary.
Before this executive order, the US had no clear policy on how to manage seized cryptocurrencies, leading to disorganized holdings across different agencies and missed financial opportunities.
Federal government could stake or lend crypto holdings
When asked whether the Treasury Department will explore ways to generate additional value or returns from the government’s crypto stockpile, such as staking or lending, Sacks said they could.
“The idea of this executive order is to create the mandate,” he stated. “We’re going to do the audit, then we’re going to move them into a separate account for safekeeping.”
Under this framework, the Secretary of the Treasury and their team would be tasked with portfolio management, ensuring the assets are handled in a way that serves the long-term interests of the American people. According to Sacks, this could involve several financial strategies, including staking, rebalancing, or even selling certain assets as needed.
“And yes, that could include staking, it could include rebalancing, [and] it could include sales,” Sacks explained. “These are all options they can pursue if the Secretary of the Treasury believes these are in the long-term interest of the American people.”
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