President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday calling for the creation of an American sovereign wealth fund—and Bitcoin investors are already seeing gold.
Following Trump’s announcement that he’s now ordered the U.S. government to create a sovereign wealth fund within the next 12 months, Bitcoin advocates leapt with enthusiasm—taking the news as a signal that the United States is taking active steps towards investing directly in the world’s top cryptocurrency.
Most notably, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), a prominent Bitcoin advocate, referenced Bitcoin when she reacted to the news. “This is a ₿ig deal,” she posted on X, making use of the Bitcoin “₿” symbol and sending crypto enthusiasts into a euphoric tizzy. BTC is up 4% on the day, to $102,050 at writing.
But what exactly are sovereign wealth funds, and how do they differ from the concept of a long-desired U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve?
Sovereign wealth funds are state-owned investment funds that take government revenues—often earned from exporting natural resources—and reinvest them in sustainably profitable assets like stocks, bonds, and real estate.
While several U.S. states, most notably Alaska and Texas, operate their own sovereign wealth funds, the nation as a whole has never operated one.
But the connection between Bitcoin, or a strategic reserve that would hold the asset, and an American sovereign wealth fund is not entirely clear.
On one hand, it is true that some of the world’s top state-run wealth funds have substantial exposure to crypto generally, and Bitcoin specifically. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest on Earth, indirectly holds nearly $400 million worth of Bitcoin, according to K33 Research.
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, another goliath, routinely invests in crypto projects and digital assets.
But establishing an American sovereign wealth fund by no means guarantees that the U.S. government is jumping into the business of Bitcoin. Such funds can be financed in part by a nation’s federal reserve, but crypto is not yet part of that stockpile.
Perhaps policy leaders like Lummis have good reason to believe that Bitcoin could become a major investment focus of an American sovereign wealth fund—or maybe, like so many others in the crypto industry, they’re just trying to will the future they so deeply desire into existence.
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