With increasing inflation rates and consumer sentiment declining, working Americans can’t celebrate much after President Donald Trump’s first six weeks in office. However, the billionaires could not be more satisfied with their return on investment. Trump announced the creation of a “strategic” cryptocurrency reserve fund after handing over federal keys and wallets to unqualified billionaire Elon Musk. On Friday, the president will host the crypto industry WHO’S WHO at the White House Summit. The reserve will purchase crypto tokens with taxpayer dollars as the theoretical future source of emergency assets. In reality, it’s equivalent to a big giveaway to a high-tech billionaire at the cost of Americans.
The crypto sanctuary is a dream come true for Trump’s oligarch donors, and many of them will benefit from the fund. Other strategic reserves, such as strategic oil reserves and strategic national stockpiles, preserve valuable assets the United States may need in emergencies. However, cryptographic protected areas are worthless to anyone other than the crypto industry. Trump and Musk’s gut agencies, which are planning to protect consumers and take chainsaws to Medicaid, are set to receive hundreds of millions of millions on direct relocations from American taxpayers.
Crypto is glyft in both theory and practice. The supporters promise high returns for products that are not economic or real-world worthless. As crypto prices rise as well as public interest, crypto companies are prone to clever marketing that poses crypto as a magical solution for all those who harm the US economy. However, many of these companies’ claims are misleading. In fact, Crypto’s inherent volatility and popularity with fraudsters and criminals is, at best, a very dangerous gamble for workers interested in investing. In the worst case scenario, it is the cause of a significant loss of wealth for millions of Americans and a risk to the economic stability of the United States. And, like many corporate schemes, crypto-backers disproportionately prey on groups that have been locked out of opportunities to build more traditional wealth.
Outside of the risks that Crypto’s inherent instability and its volatility will pose to the health of our financial system, this preparation is the latest addition to Trump’s long list of conflicts of interest. Only this time, the growing executives of the tech-centric billionaire and his ears can benefit as well. Apart from Elon Musk, two of the most well-known names are venture capitalist David Sachs, Trump’s new code emperor, and Mark Andreesen, who supported staff in the new administration.
Look at Solana’s lesser known Sol and Cardano ADA, along with the five cryptocurrencies included in the reserve. All five have surged since the announcement, with all five being held by Bitwise. Bitwise is a crypto fund manager that includes investors including craft ventures for Sacks companies until recently. When Trump announced the reserve on Monday, Craft was still listing Bitwise (and other crypto startups) in its portfolio. Only after the announcement was made was Craft Ventures updated its website and said it ended its investment in January.
Sacks has a track record of tough taxpayer help: When Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed in the spring of 2023, Sack, whose investment companies, which include SVB’s clients, was one of the first and most vocal supporters of taxpayer-funded relief bailouts. The relief costs are $22 billion. At least in the case of running in SVB, the crisis threatened the spiral and damaged the livelihoods of millions of working Americans. But this time, Sack and others are creating the very conditions for the future crypto crisis to spread.
In addition to advising the president’s transition and so-called government efficiency, Andreesen is preparing the Trump administration for a coordinated code revival. His company Andreessen Horowitz has invested billions in Crypto Ventures. Last year, Andreessen Horowitz donated tens of millions to the pro-Crypto Super PAC prior to the presidential election. Now that Trump has taken office, he is at the Media Blitz, denounces cryptography restrictions as “sanctions.”
And then there’s the classic Trump self-richness – the president and his sons, Don Jr., Eric and Baron all hold positions in World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance platform that pumps Trump with millions of tokens in his true social posts, including Bitcoin and Ether. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission suspended civil fraud investigations of crypto entrepreneurs who invested $75 million in global Liberty Financial.
Most obviously, Trump’s crypto sanctuary is good for Trump, his family, and his wealthy supporters. However, the move has given the full faith and credibility of the US government, and has approved crypto as a safe investment for everyday Americans. If the scheme inevitably gets mad, the government will then have a vested interest in bailing out the industry.
Using taxpayer funds, Congressional Elon Musk and Republicans are trying to cut down key programs like Medicaid, disaster relief and food aid, while also making sure Trump’s loyalty is checking again by the billionaire donors who funded him, not the voters who elected him. The crypto sanctuary, if created, laid the foundation for the greatest relief in history, with taxpayers making bills.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
