"Government bitcoin and crypto reserves serve no useful purpose and invite political mischief."
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.
OK, cool. What's the problem? And what's different about gold?
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.
Alright, so what's the cutoff... when it's been around for 116 years, gold still has millennia on its side? If Lindy matters, we should get off fiat very fast, right?
At least the next paragraph is true enough, and a major problem with this misbehaving uppity rebel money (#908702):
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.
The Editorial is pretty adamant that govs shouldn't be involved:
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.
It's already involved in gold (maybe?) and a heavy benefactor from its fiat money printer, so how, practically speaking, does a gov stay neutral with regards to all those assets?
non-paywalled here:
https://archive.md/M7N8s