(Kitco News) – President Trump will unveil his proposal for a strategic cryptocurrency reserve on Friday, and the new policy will include tokens other than Bitcoin, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“The President definitely thinks that there’s a Bitcoin strategic reserve,” Secretary Lutnick told The Pavlovic Today on Tuesday evening. “Now, there will be the question of, how do we handle the other cryptocurrencies? And I think the model is going to be announced on Friday when we do that.”
Lutnick made the comments ahead of the first-ever White House Digital Assets Summit on Friday, March 7, where Trump will outline his administration’s approach to cryptocurrencies, including regulation and direct investment in the sector.
Lutnick said Bitcoin would have a special status under Trump’s plan.
“A Bitcoin strategic reserve is something the President’s interested in. He spoke about it all during the campaign trail, and I think you’re going to see it executed on Friday,” Lutnick said. “Bitcoin is one thing, and then the other currencies, the other crypto tokens, I think, will be treated differently – positively, but differently.”
Trump shared his essential stance toward a strategic cryptocurrency reserve in a recent Truth Social post.
“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,” he wrote. “I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World. We are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
“And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable Cryptocurrencies, will be at the heart of the Reserve,” he wrote in a separate post. “I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!”
The White House Digital Assets Summit will be chaired by David Sacks and Bo Hines, and several of the leading players in the crypto sector have confirmed their attendance. These include Michael Saylor, co-founder of Strategy, the world's largest Bitcoin holding company, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, and Exodus CEO JP Richardson.
The Summit will explore the future of digital assets within the U.S. financial system, even as the Presidential Working Group on Digital Assets works to integrate digital currencies such as XRP, Solana, and Cardano into the country’s financial infrastructure. It will also discuss the development of regulatory frameworks surrounding cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and the broader digital asset market.
Trump signed Executive Order 14178 in his first week in office, which, among other provisions, aims at “protecting and promoting the ability of individual citizens and private-sector entities alike to access and use for lawful purposes open public blockchain networks […] and to maintain self-custody of digital assets” and “providing regulatory clarity and certainty built on technology-neutral regulations.”
It also states the Trump administration’s intention to take measures “to protect Americans from the risks of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), which threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States, including by prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States.”
Bitcoin’s price spiked to a high above $90,800 around 7:30 am EST on Wednesday, but it has since pulled back, last trading at $88,108 for a gain of 0.96% on the session.
