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executive order signed by US President Donald Trump earlier this month to establish a Strategic Reserve of Bitcoin. The move to ban Bitcoin from the US was recently hailed by Bitwise’s chief investment officer (CIO), Matt Hougan, as a crucial milestone for the cryptocurrency market. According to Hougan, the measure imposed by Trump eliminates the “last existential risk” for Bitcoin, cementing its position as a strategic asset for the country.
In a detailed analysis, Hougan recalled the early days when the asset was seen as a high-risk investment, with regulatory and technological uncertainties. However, the expert argued that the evolution of the market, with the entry of large financial institutions and the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), has transformed the asset into a safer and more attractive investment option.
“For years, trading was risky — early exchanges were shady or plagued by low volume and bad trades. Then Coinbase came along in late 2011, and the game changed. Custody was also a risk for a while, until blue-chip companies like Fidelity started offering self-custody and institutional custody. In the early days of bitcoin, there were also legitimate concerns about money laundering, criminal activity, regulatory standards, mining concentration, and more. The amazing thing about bitcoin is that it has slowly but surely eliminated all of these existential risks over time,” stated.
According to the expert, the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs in January last year helped the industry overcome another major hurdle by providing regulatory clarity for US institutional investors looking to access the space.
The creation of the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, which will use around 200.000 BTC that were seized by the US government, represents a great recognition for the sector of the importance of the largest cryptocurrency on the market as a store of value.
“Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order establishing a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. And just like that, the last existential risk facing bitcoin disappeared before my eyes,” he noted. “The best-case scenario for the U.S. is that the dollar remains the world’s reserve currency. But if we get to the point where that’s in jeopardy, we’re better off switching to bitcoin than something like the Chinese yuan. That’s what I couldn’t see originally: Of course the U.S. would embrace bitcoin. It’s the best backup plan out there.”
At the time of publication, Bitcoin’s price was trading at $87.657,26, up 0.3% in the last 24 hours. In one week, the asset’s value has increased by almost 6%.