Amid growing speculation that former U.S. President and Republican candidate Donald Trump will announce plans for a strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve at the ongoing Bitcoin Conference on Saturday, his challenger Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised to take things a huge step further.
During a July 24 appearance, RFK declared he would make the federal government acquire Bitcoin until the size of its BTC stash matched the country’s substantial gold reserves if elected this November.
RFK Jr Proposes Federal BTC Acquisition Plan
Libertarian-leaning presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doubled down on his support for Bitcoin in a Wednesday interview with Custodia Bank chief executive officer Caitlin Long on the crypto podcast The Wolf of All Streets hosted by Scott Melker.
“Bitcoin is an honest currency,” Kennedy posited. “It’s a currency that’s based on proof of work. Everything’s on the ledger, it’s decentralized, and that’s what we need to do with democracy.”
RFK Jr. then boldly pledged to ensure the U.S. government holds Bitcoin at a level equivalent to gold reserves, with the nation’s BTC purchases taking place during his first four years in the White House.
“I would like to have the federal government begin to buy Bitcoin and, over my term in office, ultimately have an equivalent amount of Bitcoin that we have gold,” the pro-crypto candidate stated.
The United States government currently holds the world’s largest gold reserve of 8,134 tons. This is equivalent to $616 billion of precious metal at current market prices. Matching that value in BTC would require an eye-watering 9.4 million Bitcoin at today’s price (roughly 45% of the asset’s total supply that miners will ever produce).
Should Kennedy’s strategy work, the US would easily become the world’s largest BTC holder. Michael Saylor’s software firm MicroStrategy is the single largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with 226,331 BTC held in its corporate treasury. As of this writing, that’s more than $15 billion worth at the current price of around $67,253.
As the price of Bitcoin climbs higher, the government would not need to buy 9 million BTC before achieving its $615 billion target, albeit it would undoubtedly still make the US one of the world’s top owners. An investment strategy of this scale would be a boon for BTC investors during Kennedy’s tenure.
Speaking at the ongoing Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Kennedy reiterated that he is a “huge supporter of Bitcoin”, before adding: “I have most of my wealth in Bitcoin. I am fully committed.”
Meanwhile, traders and investors are waiting to see what will happen when ex-President Donald Trump takes the stage at the conference tomorrow.
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