Re-posting this just so we don't lose sight... of what most people think of "Crypto". This is what "crypto" (or a crypto reserve by extension) is according to the Wall Street Journal (or probably most people who read it).

Also see the Journal comments copied below for those who aren't subscribed. (There are lots of comments)

The Fool’s Gold of a Crypto Reserve: Government bitcoin and crypto reserves serve no useful purpose and invite political mischief.

President Trump held a summit on Friday with crypto-currency enthusiasts where he touted his plan to establish national stockpiles for bitcoin and other crypto tokens. What could go wrong?

Mr. Trump’s new executive order issued Thursday directs the Treasury Department to take custody and preserve government holdings of bitcoin and other crypto-currencies that agencies seize as part of investigations into wrongdoing. His stated goal is to create a crypto version of Fort Knox, which is where America’s gold reserves are stored.

David Sacks, the White House cryptocurrency czar, says the U.S. government has sold about 195,000 bitcoin over the last decade for $366 million, which would be worth about $17 billion today. He estimates that federal agencies now hold some 200,000 bitcoins—worth $16.7 billion at the current price—but says “there has never been a complete audit.”

Mr. Trump’s order requires such an audit. Treasury would then manage the government’s bitcoin stash as reserve assets, similar to gold and foreign currencies. Treasury would separately determine “responsible stewardship” for other tokens like Ripple and Ethereum.

U.S. dollar reserves provide liquidity and facilitate payments with the rest of the world. Bitcoin doesn’t. While Mr. Trump describes bitcoin as “digital gold,” many countries don’t recognize or accept it as legal tender. While gold has been used as a store of wealth for centuries, bitcoin has been around for all of 16 years.

Its price is also highly volatile. Investors sold off bitcoin last week as they have other risky assets amid growing trade uncertainty. The prices of bitcoin and other tokens on Thursday fell after Mr. Trump issued his executive order, apparently because crypto investors were hoping he’d do more to bolster their speculative crypto bets.

His order directs Treasury and the Commerce Department to “develop strategies” for acquiring more bitcoin that are “budget neutral and do not impose incremental costs on United States taxpayers.” This ostensibly means Treasury won’t issue debt to buy bitcoin, but the order still invites government mischief.

Assets seized in civil and criminal forfeitures are typically returned to victims or sold with the proceeds remitted to Treasury to reduce the budget deficit. The Trump plan is to keep confiscated tokens as investments, which might later be sold to finance a President’s spending prerogatives. Future presidents of both parties could raid the stockpile to bypass Congress on spending.

Establishing national crypto reserves also invites government abuse. The Institute for Justice has chronicled how local law enforcement has abused civil forfeiture laws to seize assets even when there’s been no wrongdoing. What’s to stop the Justice Department from doing the same with crypto-currencies to bolster Treasury’s stockpile? Treasury might even buy tokens backed by the ruling party’s political donors to drive up their price.

A government crypto reserve serves no good purpose while creating an opportunity for political bad behavior. Let private investors speculate all they want without the government having a stake in crypto-currency prices.

WSJ Reader Comments (these are just some of them but this is the general gist):

"I cannot believe we're discussing US Crypto reserve Or that US is endorsing Putin above Ukraine or digesting Kash Patel as FBI Director and Dan Bongino is #2"

"We all want to see President Trump actually go to Fort Knox and take a selfie with himself and a pile of real gold, not this phony stuff."

"Crypto in general fails in all three criteria for a currency: 1/ It is not a reliable store of value; 2/ It is not an efficient or reliable means of exchange; 3/ It is not a measure of value on its own, only in terms of its exchange rate vs. fiat currencies, such as the dollar."

"The road to bankruptcy is paved in cryptocurrency."

"Whoever is the last holder of any crypto coin is the loser. North Korea can finance their global ambitions by hacking various bitcoin exchanges and stealing tokens. Our Treasury should be able to hold any crypto coin recovered from the bad actors."

"Get with it Craig . If you ever want to augment your income by getting into cyber attacks on hospitals and such and holding their files and data for ransom , what do you think , they accept cash . Ho-Ho 1 Geez , I see last weeks WSJ even had an article on North Korea pinching $1.5 billion Bitcoin from somewhere. And Charlie , why Is bitcoin valued in US dollars anyways? P-O-N-Z-I"

"A national strategic reserve of Mickey Mantle cards would make more sense."

"Crypto is the perfect mechanism for money laundering."

"Let's stop fooling ourselves, "political bad behavior' is the entire point of the Trump crypto reserve."

"Value of crypto as a currency lies in its presumed robustness and permanence as a public ledger using the blockchain mechanism. However, blockchain can be hacked and corrupted, increasingly with the quantum computing revolution, so it is not as robust or permanent. In addition, necessary liquidity of any cryto depends on the existence of real and legal IOU transactions between legal parties, which is also lacking."

"Crypto has no use case unless speculation is a use case. Trump is talking about a digital dollar which would wipe Bitcoin off the map fo any legal purpose."

"Not if, but when it is hacked..."

"Trump hasn’t found a scam be didn’t like."

"I have mixed feelings about this "crypto reserve." Mostly I think it will serve to prove that crypto is fairy dust. Trading volumes will collapse and the average transaction will get progressively smaller. The idea of a limited supply disappears as people shave smaller and smaller fractions of a "coin" off to make purchases. That will cause it all to go to zero."

"Most of us who are 3 or 4 times 7 in age do not understand crypto. Before we can understand what, if anything, that is being talked about some simple questions have to be answered to wit:

[At least this person is asking questions. You would think that by now people would know what a 'wallet' is, especially a Lightning Wallet?]

"This is just the latest shiny thing to catch our president's eye, some huckster caught his attention and sold him on the idea. More foolishness and distraction when the real problems of America go unworked and unaddressed."

"We already have a fiat currency, the US dollar. It is the most widely accepted currency in the world, and the default currency in many places where the local currency is a clown show. Having the default leading currency helps the US in a myriad of ways. We don't need another fiat currency, especially one that tips the balance to all sorts of nefarious and shady entitites. What is the point of that? Instead of Fort Knox, I imagine they will store it in Fort Sucker."

"As has been said elsewhere, this concept ranks right up there with a poker chip or beanie baby reserve."

""Crypto reserve" = oxymoron. And oxy/moron is partly the word for the scammers pushing for one, though evildoers is maybe a better one."

"Crypto is a scam. Suckers are born everyday. That’s Trump’s secret to success. Scam everyone he can."

"You can’t have a reserve of something that does not exist, all you could have is a Govt guarantee of the value of ledger entry values, God help you if you go down that route."

"Can’t have a reserve of something that doesn’t exist. That is the most succinct description that I have seen to date . Salute !"

"It's really sad seeing Lutnick, who was a genuine 9-11 hero when he saved Cantor Fitzgerald from oblivion, absolutely destroying his reputation a la Rudy Giuliani with his "dear leader" fawning over Trump."

"Trumps embrace of crypto represents the most significant and unnecessary risk to his political success."

"Anyone who trusts crypto more than the US dollar is an utter fool, but I don’t think anyone actually does, they just think they are going to get rich quick buying and selling tulips."

"When it becomes a reality we could celebrate National Scam Day as a legal holiday."

"Perhaps we should have a Beanie Babies Reserve; it’s basically the same thing."

"The Crypto Sovereign fund is just a pot contain all of these electrons and if the stuff turns to ash, no big deal. In the meantime, if we can scam some willing buyers to accept crypto for durable goods, we're the better off. Tell you what, I'll buy a lot of wind, and when someone needs some I'll be glad to sell. Delivery, of course, is the problem. When I buy crypto, can you guarantee delivery of value?"

"Crypto is the biggest hoax ever. I know people say supply is fixed... but if we have 3000 different currencies ....isn't it the same as me printing my own currency."

"I can't believe this is a serious proposal. Blockchain is one thing and crypto coins quite another. Just the volatility says "NO". Let' find out if there is any gold in Fort Knox and audit that if you want entertainment."

"Just last month a large Dubai based crypto exchange was hacked for over $1 billion. A US crypto reserve would be the ultimate hacker's target. If it's digital it can be hacked."

"No wonder Trump is boosting crypto: He and his wife are selling their own meme coins. If a Dem president did this, Republicans would call for his impeachment."

"Crypto reserve is just a bunch of words to placate people who like crypto. The Government is not buying crypto they are only accounting for the crypto they have. basically an audit. Personally still think that governments will come up with their own crypto and out law all others."

These comments plus many like them go on and on. What do you think, are we near hyper-Bitcoin-ization?