Donald Trump’s campaign promise to create a national Bitcoin portfolio with cryptocurrencies held by the US government has alarmed former prosecutors who say it would divert seized digital assets that would be used to compensate crime victims.
In his statement at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on July 27, Trump said that if elected president, the United States would retain all Bitcoin the government holds or acquires and “turn this tremendous wealth into a permanent national asset that will benefit all Americans.”
Experts say Trump, with his “never sell your Bitcoin” philosophy, is violating a fundamental tenet of U.S. forfeiture law: The government sells seized assets to repay crime victims and support law enforcement.
“Most of this portfolio probably belongs to victims of hacks, ransomware and scams,” said Amanda Wick, a former federal prosecutor and principal at Incite Consulting. This money needs to go back to the victims. “If they knew this, I don’t believe the crypto community would say you have to rip off victims to stockpile Bitcoin,” he commented.
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