Cryptocurrency exchanges in India are stoked at US President Donald Trump’s decision to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve.
The industry expects a rising institutional interest in cryptocurrency and hopes regulators in India will take cognizance of the development.
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve, a day before meeting executives from the cryptocurrency industry at the White House.
Bitcoin prices, which were hovering at around $91,654
at 5 pm on Thursday, have fallen to $88,454 as of 1 pm on Friday.
Bitcoins have a finite supply of 21 million and there are an estimated 19.5 million bitcoins currently in circulation. The upper limit of 21 million is expected to be reached by 2140. With a strategic reserve, the US could have a key role in influencing the prices of a supply-limited financial asset in the future.
“Trump’s move signals long-term institutional adoption of crypto. This move will likely push India to rethink its cautious crypto stance.
“Senior leaders have already mentioned that they are tracking US moves closely and working on a consultation paper,” Sumit Gupta co-founder and CEO, CoinDCX, said in a post on social media platform X.
“Global reserve status for BTC (bitcoin) could incentivise more Indian institutions to diversify into crypto assets. Regulatory collaboration will likely be discussed at today’s White House crypto summit,” Gupta said.
“While the US rolls out enabling policies, India needs to catch up. Crypto is being taxed at the highest tax bracket. That’s sending a terrible signal to investors and builders. Many Indian founders have already moved to Dubai and other countries. India has a huge opportunity but only if it doesn’t miss the movement. We need supportive regulations, not outdated restrictions,” said Ashish Singhal co-founder, CoinSwitch on X.
“The move will fuel innovation. Expect a wave of start-ups, blockchain projects, decentralised finance and digital record-keeping solutions. This is a turning point,” Singhal said.
Tech founder and investor David Sacks said in a post on X that the US reserve will be capitalised with bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
Earlier this week, Trump announced the names of five digital assets he expects to include in this reserve, spiking the market value of each.
The five are bitcoin, ether, XRP, solana and cardano, the president said.
“The US will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold”, Sacks said.
According to a Reuters report, Trump’s moves to support the crypto industry, which spent millions backing him and other Republicans in the November elections, have drawn concern from some conservatives and crypto backers over giveaways to an already wealthy community and delegitimising the digital currency industry.