Ripple Blamed For Trump Order on Digital Asset Stockpile

Ripple Labs Blamed After Trump Signs Executive Order For Digital Asset Stockpile Over Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

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Updated: 24 January 2025

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Ripple Labs is under fire for allegedly influencing President Donald Trump to sign an executive order for a digital asset stockpile instead of a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Signed yesterday, the order directs a working group to explore a crypto reserve that could include assets seized through federal enforcement efforts but makes no mention of Bitcoin—despite Trump’s earlier pledge to establish a national strategic Bitcoin reserve.

“The biggest obstacle for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is not the Fed, Treasury, banks, or Elizabeth Warren. It’s Ripple/XRP,” said Pierre Rochard, vice president of research at Riot Platforms, in a post on X. “They are aggressively lobbying against the SBR by throwing around $millions at politicians, desperately trying to derail it. They did the same to attack bitcoin mining under the Biden administration. Obviously they want to protect their marketing narratives and push for CBDCs built on their platform.”

The biggest obstacle for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is not the Fed, Treasury, banks, or Elizabeth Warren.

It’s Ripple/XRP. They are aggressively lobbying against the SBR by throwing around $millions at politicians, desperately trying to derail it.

They did the same to…

— Pierre Rochard (@BitcoinPierre) January 23, 2025

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse hit back, arguing in another post on X that the firm’s efforts “actually increase the likelihood of a crypto strategic reserve” that also includes Bitcoin.

Trump’s Chosen Language For The Digital Asset Stockpile Might Be Strategic

While the executive order is a positive step towards greater crypto adoption, many Web3 community members have an issue with the language used in the order, especially after Trump promised last year that he would create a national Bitcoin strategic stockpile using the more than $120 billion worth of BTC that the Justice Department seized over the years.

“The executive order does not mention ‘Bitcoin’ once,” said podcaster Peter McCormack in a Jan. 23 post on X. Others also shared their frustrations online, and said that the proposed stockpile should only focus on the leading crypto and not include smaller-cap tokens.

We fully endorse the working group for a ‘Strategic Digital Asset Stockpile’ drafted by @DavidSacks and @BoHines.

I am Bitcoin only, but it is pragmatic for the working group to use the word “digital asset” for the exact same reason that @SatoshiActFund has utilized this…

— Dennis Porter (@Dennis_Porter_) January 23, 2025

Still, Satoshi Action Fund CEO Dennis Porter said that the “tech-neutral” language used in the order is strategic and “reduces political friction.” He added that using this type of language will increase the odds of the government reaching its end goal and the US becoming “the largest holder of Bitcoin in the world.”