Photo credit: The Bitcoin Conference on X

RFK Jr. plans Bitcoin strategic reserve if elected

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. laid out his plans to introduce a Bitcoin strategic reserve as part of a swathe of executive orders he seeks to sign if he wins the US presidential election.

“I will sign another executive order directing the US Treasury to purchase 550 Bitcoin daily until the US has built a reserve of at least 4 million Bitcoin,” Kennedy said on-stage at the Bitcoin Conference on July 27.

He stated he wants the US to have a “position of dominance that no other country will be able to usurp,” and that he anticipates the initiative would move Bitcoin to a valuation of hundreds of trillions of dollars.

Kennedy also plans to direct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to exempt all Bitcoin-to-dollar transactions from reporting and taxation.

Additionally, he aims to classify Bitcoin as eligible for the 1031 Exchange program, a tax incentive that allows investors to defer capital gains when exchanging real estate properties.

Trump vows to make US ‘crypto capital of the planet’

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” and the Bitcoin superpower of the world should he be re-elected.

“If crypto is going to define the future, I want it mined, minted, and made in the USA [...] It is not going to be made anywhere else,” Trump said during his speech at the Bitcoin Conference on July 27, adding:

“Bitcoin is going to the moon and I want America to be the nation that leads the way.”

To realize this ambition, the former president promised to establish a national Bitcoin stockpile to “keep 100% of all the Bitcoin the US government currently holds and requires into the future.”

Among his policy changes also include firing Gary Gensler, the incumbent chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), “on day one” and forming a “Bitcoin and crypto presidential advisory council.”

“The moment I’m sworn in, the persecution stops, and the weaponization ends against your industry […] I will appoint a new SEC chairman who believes that America should build the future, not block the future.”

House Democrats call for crypto-friendly party platform

Democrat lawmakers including Rep. Josh Gottheimer Ro Khanna, Wiley Nickel, Ritchie Torres, and others are pushing their national committee to adopt a pro-crypto stance.

In a letter sent on July 27, the Democrats in the US House of Representatives requested their party to add supportive language to the official platform and choose a crypto-friendly vice presidential candidate.

The lawmakers also asked to replace SEC Chair Gary Gensler with a “pro-innovation” agency chief “who takes a regulatory approach to digital assets that fosters innovation, secures American global competitiveness, promotes financial inclusion and protects consumers.”

During the Bitcoin Conference, North Carolina Rep. Nickel commented that US Vice President Kamala Harris “understands” crypto and may embrace it as an issue in her presidential campaign.

“We had a total reset of the presidential election,” Nickel said. “We’ve been working hard to get a reset from Vice President.”

Senator Lummis formally unveils Bitcoin Reserve bill 

Pro-crypto US senator Cynthia Lummis has formally introduced a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” bill, proposing the government purchase 5% of the world’s Bitcoin supply and hold it for at least 20 years.

The proposed legislation has been floated around days before her anticipated keynote speech at the Bitcoin Conference.

“This Bitcoin Reserve that we are going to create will start with the 210,000 Bitcoin that President Trump just mentioned and pull it into a reserve, stored in geographically diverse vaults, and that’s only the beginning,” Lummis said.

“We have the money now, but we will no longer be holding it in US dollars and assets that are designed to debase at least 2% per year, we’ll be holding it in an asset that will grow in value,” she added.

Byteline Rewind is a weekly roundup summarizing some of the most significant Web3 news and developments from the weekend. It is sent out every Monday morning at GST.