- U.S Reprsentative Connolly has urged Secretary Bessent to cease BTC reserve plans
- Connolly believes that the crypto reserves will ‘enrich’ the President’s allies, not taxpayers
U.S. Representative Gerald Connolly has urged U.S Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cease attempts to create a strategic Bitcoin [BTC] reserve. In doing so, he cited a conflict of interest between President Trump and his allies. The legislator’s letter to Bessent read,
“The creation of a strategic cryptocurrency reserve is poised to enrich the President and his closest allies at the expense of American taxpayers. I urge you to cease all plans to create a strategic cryptocurrency reserve.”
Bitcoin reserves and transparency
The lawmaker doubles as a ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reforms (COGC). He noted that Congress created past reserves for commodities with strategic value, like petroleum, which could be used during an economic crisis.
However, he doesn’t see value in the “volatile, cryptocurrency market,” adding that it would be a “bad deal” for taxpayers.
Connolly cited official TRUMP memecoin and the President’s family links to the DeFi platform World Liberity Financial as likely examples of conflict of interest. He also singled out Elon Musk’s overarching influence, through DOGE, on key agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and his past promotion of Dogecoin.
In fact, he also alleged that President Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, is still a partner at Craft Ventures – A digital asset investing firm.
“Although…David Sacks, claims to have sold his cryptocurrency prior to joining the Administration, he remains a partner at Craft Ventures, which invests in a cryptocurrency index fund manager that has holdings in BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, and ADA.”
Here, it is worth noting that Sacks is off ethics review. And, the White House has maintained that he has already divested from Craft Ventures and other crypto investments.
To curb conflict of interest among the President and his allies, Connolly requested Secretary Bessent to provide key documents. These may be related to creating the crypto reserves and financial disclosures from members of the Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.
Meanwhile, Senator Cynthia Lummis has re-introduced the Bitcoin Act to anchor the BTC reserves within a formal legal framework.
