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Digital Asset Legislation Pushed as Trump Embraces Crypto Agenda - BLOOMBERG
(Bloomberg) -- Representative Byron Donalds will introduce legislation on Friday to codify an executive order that President Donald Trump signed earlier this month that establishes a strategic Bitcoin reserve and US digital asset stockpile.
Passing the bill would ensure that the reserve and stockpile could not be eliminated by executive action from a future president, protecting the crypto-friendly policy that Trump embraced both on the 2024 campaign trail and in his second administration.
While the bill would require 60 votes in the Senate and a majority in the House, cryptocurrency-friendly policies have gained bipartisan support in this Congress.
“For years, the Democrats waged war on crypto,” Donalds, a Florida Republican, said in a statement on Thursday evening. “Now is the time for Congressional Republicans to decisively end this war.”
Trump’s executive order called for the creation of a Bitcoin reserve within the Treasury Department for the roughly 200,000 Bitcoin the US government owns, which the administration believes will increase government holdings as the value of the assets grows.
The executive order also authorizes the Treasury and Commerce Departments to develop “budget-neutral strategies” for buying more Bitcoin for the reserve with no incremental costs to taxpayers and prohibits the sale of any Bitcoin in the reserve. It also established a stockpile for other digital assets currently owned by the Treasury Department and for any future assets acquired through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
The effort to codify the executive order is the latest sign of interest among Washington lawmakers in the industry.
Donalds, in particular, has embraced cryptocurrency as he runs for governor of Florida in next year’s election, vowing to make his state the financial capital of the world with the help of digital assets.
The crypto industry has had a series of victories across Washington in recent weeks. Major industry executives convened with Trump and top US officials at the White House last week after he signed the executive order creating the stockpile and reserve. And a bill that outlines rules for issuing stablecoin payments and requirements to back stablecoin payments with US currency, Federal Reserve notes, Treasury bills and other assets is also moving through Congress.