Democrat Rep. Gerald E. Connolly is demanding that the US Treasury intervene in a political dispute over the Trump administration’s efforts to create a US crypto reserve.
He sent a letter to Scott Bessent urging the Department to cease all attempts to create the crypto reserve.
🇺🇸 Democrats oppose the strategic reserve: call to stop Trump’s plan
Democratic Representative Gerald Connolly has formally requested that the U.S. Department of the Treasury halt President Donald Trump’s plan to create a strategic reserve of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.… pic.twitter.com/iNWC0EnA9e
— Atlas21 (@Atlas21_news) March 14, 2025
In his letter, the ranking member says that the president has never talked to Congress about setting up a crypto reserve like this. He added that the president has also never said that he plans to ask Congress for permission to build the strategic reserve.
Connolly wrote, “ It would also constitute unsound fiscal policy by picking winners among currencies via social media and wasting taxpayer dollars on a plan that one federal reserve official described as ‘the dumbest idea’ ever. I urge you to cease all attempts to create the strategic cryptocurrency reserve.”
Conflict of interest – Rep. Gerald E. Connolly
The letter comes after President Trump’s order on the establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile. Days after he entered office, he signed an order called “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” This order included plans to create a crypto reserve with Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano.
He wrote, “I write regarding President Trump’s recent executive order on the creation of a strategic reserve for cryptocurrency—an asset class that Mr. Trump initially wrote off as a ‘scam.’ Such a reserve provides no discernible benefit to the American people but would significantly enrich the President and his donors.”
Connolly has serious questions about Trump’s financial plans. Why? He is connected to both the Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin and World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform run by the Trump Organization.
According to Connolly, Trump owns a big piece of the crypto company World Liberty Financial and stands to gain a lot if its value goes up. The company aspires to be a sort of digital asset bank, where customers will be encouraged to borrow, lend, and invest in digital coins could benefit a lot if the crypto market thrives.
Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin has made money for him. In addition, people with ties to President Trump are said to have made up to $100 million just in trading fees from this business, which has been called his most profitable get-rich scheme yet.
Connolly made it clear that all communication and paperwork related to setting up a Bitcoin reserve must be made public. Along with a list of companies that the Treasury has financial ties to when it comes to crypto. He asked for a full account of the steps that are taken to avoid conflicts of interest.
Also, Connolly asked if the Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, of which Bessent is a member, had examined the financial disclosures of important administration officials like tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Will SBR last past Trump’s administration?
If the crypto reserve is considered a new way to back the dollar, it will make the dollar and Treasury markets very nervous. The government will basically be sending the message that it doesn’t trust the dollar system as it is now and that a big change is needed.
The market might start to wonder if the US is thinking about not paying its debts, which would make rates go up even more than they are now. Investors should have more faith in the government’s ability to meet its debt obligations if it pursues policies that promote growth and lower the deficit. It is dangerous for the government shouldn’t be messing with the whole structure of the dollar system.
Trump’s opponents see the crypto reserve as dishonest, making the rest of Trump’s crypto-friendly policies and rules look self-serving instead of letting them stand on their own as regulatory policies.
A future administration may decide to throw out all the gains the US has made on crypto and start over. The reserve makes it easy to justify future attempts to go backward from a moral point of view.
