Ripple founders lobbied for XRP reserve, got sell-only stockpile instead

Ripple and its co-founders spent tens of millions of dollars on political donations with dreams of the US government acquiring XRP for a sovereign crypto reserve. Instead, at 7:11pm yesterday, they endured a catastrophic conclusion to their lobbying efforts. 

When so-called “Crypto Czar” David Sacks tweeted the text of a signed executive order, Ripple and its XRP Army learned that Donald Trump would not — despite his explicit promise — direct the US government to buy XRP. 

Although Trump claimed on March 2 that he would create a Crypto Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, he did not. Instead, he actually signed an order relegating XRP to a separate, sell-only stockpile.

Rather than entering the ranks of any US Strategic Crypto Reserve, XRP is, disappointingly, a Stockpile Asset. The US government may not buy XRP and may only hold onto or sell it.

Indeed, according to the document Trump signed, “the United States Government shall not acquire additional Stockpile Assets other than in connection with criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings or in satisfaction of any civil money penalty imposed by any agency without further executive or legislative action.”

Read more: Genesis-era XRP unlocked, sent to exchange after Trump endorsement

When Trump originally promised to include XRP on March 2, its price rallied 36% within an hour. Since then, XRP has retraced all but 10% of that rally.

The ‘no-buying-allowed’ US Digital Asset Stockpile

The US stockpile can also include non-bitcoin (BTC) digital assets such as Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Ethereum (ETH) — three other digital assets that Trump originally promised to include in a reserve. In fact, BTC is the only digital asset that is currently legal for US government buying. All other crypto assets are in a separate, hold- or sell-only stockpile.

Trump created a BTC-only Bitcoin Strategic Reserve that will be seeded with BTC that the government has already obtained from criminal and civil forfeiture asset forfeiture proceedings. The U.S. government currently holds about 200,000 BTC — much of which is pending disbursement to Bitfinex. 

Unlike the altcoin stockpile, Trump has authorized the Treasury and Commerce secretaries to acquire more BTC using budget-neutral strategies.

Read more: Bitcoiners attack Ripple after Strategic Bitcoin Reserve flop

Even the US Treasury Secretary is confused

Oddly, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared this morning on CNBC to comment on this executive order. In contrast to the literal text of the document, Bessent seems to be under the impression that the terms of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will expand to include altcoins in the near future.

“We’re starting with bitcoin, but it’s an overall crypto reserve,” he said.

As one of the two men Trump directed to develop BTC-only acquisition strategies alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Bessent’s ambiguous promise today is a notable footnote to this story.

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