President Trump on Sunday named five cryptocurrencies under consideration for a new U.S. “strategic reserve,” sending their values skyrocketing and partly reversing a recent slump.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, a group he set up through an executive order shortly after taking office, is moving forward with the crypto reserve, which will include Bitcoin, Ethereum and three smaller cryptocurrencies: XRP, Solana, and Cardano.
“I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World,” Mr. Trump wrote.
David Sacks, a venture capitalist and the president’s appointed White House AI and Crypto Czar, said on X Sunday that more details will be revealed at the White House Crypto Summit scheduled for Friday, March 7. Founders, CEOs and investors from the crypto industry will be among the attendees, according to the White House.
The value of the digital currencies shot up following Mr. Trump’s social media post, with XRP trading up around 34% at 1:00 p.m. EST. Solana gained around 22% and Cardano rose more than 63%.
A few minutes later, Trump posted again, noting that other valuable cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and ether would be at “the heart of the Reserve,” causing the price of the two major digital currencies to rise more than 10% and 12% respectively.
Trump’s posts helped spur a broad rally among cryptocurrencies, which had plummeted in recent days as Trump’s tariff threats and new scandals affecting the sector shook investor confidence in the highly volatile assets.
Sunday’s posts are not the first time that Trump and those in his orbit have weighed in on the crypto sector.
Both Trump and his wife Melania recently launched their own branded meme coins, sparking accusations that they were seeking to make money from his political success. And the billionaire chief executive Elon Musk — a close political ally whom Trump has tasked with leading a government efficiency drive — has frequently promoted cryptocurrencies on his own social media network, X.
The crypto industry also massively contributed to the 2024 election. Crypto companies made a third of all direct corporate contributions to super PACs last year, CBS News previously reported.
