Author: Elham Makdoum – 08/04/2025
Bitcoin Cold War
On March 7, a historic event took place in Washington: the first-ever White House Digital Asset Summit. The roundtable brought together the crème de la crème of the cryptocurrency sector, from Tether’s Paolo Ardoino to Strategy’s Michael Saylor.
One of the most significant outcomes of the summit—organized to fulfill Donald Trump’s promise to the crypto community to make America “the Bitcoin superpower“—was the definitive green light for the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR). This marks the official start of the Bitcoin Race. The official beginning, after a long warm-up phase, of the Bitcoin Cold War.
By signing the executive order on the Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the United States Digital Asset Stockpile—announced but not officially signed at the White House Digital Asset Summit—Trump has made the U.S. The first great power to hold a state reserve of BTC.
According to estimates by David Sacks, Trump’s so-called “crypto czar,” Washington possesses around 200,000 BTC, primarily obtained through government seizures from criminal organizations. This reserve will serve as the foundation of the SBR, but additional Bitcoins will be purchased to “maximize Bitcoin’s strategic position,” defined as “a unique store of value within the global financial system.”
Unspoken words and subliminal messages are crucial in politics—a world that thrives on between-the-lines messaging and threats disguised as aphorisms. That’s why it’s important to highlight this passage from the executive order: “As it is in our country’s interest to thoughtfully manage national ownership and control of any other resource, our Nation must harness, not limit, the power of digital assets for our prosperity.” In other words, a massive accumulation of Bitcoin is in play, both for wealth accumulation and, potentially, for price manipulation.
Cryptocurrencies at the heart of great power competition
Trump’s crypto strategy is far more political than it appears. Specifically, the Republican administration is pursuing two interrelated objectives: defeating a geopolitical adversary—China—and preventing a worst-case scenario—de-dollarization.
The United States aims to maintain, and even strengthen, its techno-military-industrial dominance against China’s unstoppable rise. After securing its position as the undisputed leader in renewable energy, Beijing is now setting its sights on cryptocurrencies, AI, NBIC, and quantum computing. The U.S. cannot win the battle for the cryptoverse unless it comes out ahead in the Bitcoin Race.
Bitcoin seems to be a fixation for Trump, who repeatedly vows to make Washington “the crypto capital of the world” because “if we don’t do it, China will.” Bitcoin is a recurring theme in Trump’s rhetoric, much like it looms large in the strategic-but-untold ambitions of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. The Bitcoin Race is just one facet of great power competition—specifically, the semi-Cold War between the U.S. and China.
Bitcoin, but not only Bitcoin…
The second goal of Trump’s crypto agenda is to prevent a Bitcoin Transition in global trade and finance. Bitcoin was created as an alternative to the dollar and, more broadly, to all fiat currencies. The U.S. dollar underpins America’s supremacy in globalization, but today it faces two threats: cryptocurrencies and BRICS+.
Trump appears determined to tackle de-dollarization head-on, using a two-pronged approach: on one side, leveraging embargoes, tariffs, and secondary sanctions; on the other, betting on decentralized finance. He has shelved the idea of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which Washington sees no need for, thanks to projects like Circle’s USD and Tether’s USD—two stablecoins that essentially function as digital dollars. In Tether’s case, according to Paolo Ardoino, the strategy is clear: to strengthen the “dollar’s hegemony” in the cryptoverse.
Trump’s moves underscore the increasingly inseparable link between cryptocurrencies and international politics. Great power competition has entered the cryptoverse, though many within the industry have yet to grasp it.
Trump aims to promote Bitcoin adoption in the U.S. and globally as an “archeofuturistic” store of value—essentially, “digital gold.” This stands in contrast to China, Russia, and their revisionist allies, who see Bitcoin primarily as a payment method. These are naturally divergent visions: Washington can only sustain the dollar’s dominance in the age of decentralization by weakening the Bitcoin project while simultaneously internationalizing digital dollar usage. Meanwhile, BRICS+ can accelerate the advent of currency multipolarity by promoting the idea of a Bitcoin Standard.
Dollars (in all their forms) versus Bitcoin. The battle has already begun—and it’s global. Consider, for instance, the little-known backstory of El Salvador’s Bitcoin strategy. It was Beijing that originally designed Nayib Bukele’s “bitcoinization strategy.” The original plan designated Bitcoin as a legal tender competing with the dollar—until Washington “persuaded” Bukele to alter course, keeping Bitcoin but relegating it to a harmless store of value. The Bitcoin Cold War has just begun, and it promises to be a spectacle.
This content has been published as part of our partnership with MasiraX.
Other articles by Elham Makdoum published in Vision & Global Trends:
A BRICS(+) cryptocurrency around the corner?