Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promises to match Bitcoin holdings to gold reserves if elected

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has come out with a huge promise in his bid for the U.S. presidency. If elected, he says he plans to push the federal government to buy Bitcoin until the government’s holdings match the size of the country’s gold reserves.

Right now, the U.S. government holds the most gold in the world. We’re talking about 8,134 tons, which is worth around $615 billion. 

To match this value in Bitcoin, the government would need to get over 9 million BTC at the current price. That’s nearly 45% of all the BTC that will ever exist.

A radical move in crypto policy

Kennedy’s announcement comes amid rumors that Donald Trump wants to set up a Bitcoin reserve too if he wins. But Kennedy is taking things much further. 

In a recent interview , he said he’d push for the government to buy Bitcoin until its holdings match the gold reserves. In his words:

“Bitcoin is an honest currency. It’s based on proof of work, everything’s on the ledger, it’s decentralized, and that’s what we need for democracy.”

Kennedy’s plan to buy such a massive amount of Bitcoin fits with his earlier ideas about backing government currency and debt with a mix of hard currencies like gold, silver, platinum, and BTC.

He even talked about a new type of U.S. Treasury bill that could be linked to this basket of currencies, starting small and increasing over time.

Kennedy said that this Bitcoin buying spree would happen during his first four years in office. 

“I would like to have the federal government begin to buy Bitcoin and, over my term in office, ultimately have an equivalent amount of Bitcoin that we have gold.”

If this plan goes through, the U.S. would become the largest holder of BTC by a long shot. Right now, MicroStrategy is the biggest corporate holder of Bitcoin with 226,331 BTC worth $14.41 billion. 

And BlackRock, the largest Bitcoin ETF, controls 334,000 BTC worth $21.73 billion. Kennedy has also promised to get rid of capital gains taxes on crypto.

“If we want to save our democracy, we need to decentralize. Bitcoin is honest because there’s nobody in charge.”

Trump and Harris on crypto

Meanwhile Kennedy’s top opponent, the Republicans’ Donald Trump has seemingly fully embraced. He’s now letting supporters donate to his campaign using Bitcoin. 

Trump is also set to deliver the keynote address tomorrow at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. He even called himself the “Crypto President” and said he’s fighting against Biden’s anti-crypto rally.

Donald Trump with Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Credits: Tyler Winklevoss

Trump’s new love for crypto could be driven by campaign donations from the industry and the idea that Bitcoin mining could support his vision of expanding fossil fuels and achieving “energy dominance.”

It’s also a way for him to criticize the Biden administration’s actions against crypto companies.

But Vice President Kamala Harris’s views on crypto aren’t very clear. She hasn’t said much about it publicly. Some people think she might be more open to crypto than Biden because of her connections to Silicon Valley and the tech industry. 

Vice President Kamala Harris at the Chavis Community Center in North Carolina. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

Mark Cuban, the big crypto supporter, has said that Harris would be “far more open to business, AI, crypto” compared to Biden. But it’s still uncertain if Harris would change Biden’s policies.

Or if Trump and Kennedy would actually do anything they promised regarding crypto.