BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes says the United States probably won’t add more Bitcoin to its reserves beyond what it has already seized, mainly because of its large debt and the lingering stereotype around “Bitcoin bros.”
He said that the U.S. runs on a budget deficit, so the only way it could build a strategic reserve is by holding onto the Bitcoin it’s already seized; fine, that’s around 200,000 BTC.
However, Hayes mentioned that it’s hard to imagine any politician who has been legitimately elected openly declaring that the government intends to print money to purchase Bitcoin. On Mar. 6, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a strategic reserve for BTC and a stockpile of digital assets in the United States.
Bitcoin dominance rises, altcoin season in sight?
The US government currently holds 198,012 Bitcoins worth over $18 billion, according to recent reports. The reserve comes from BTC seized during criminal and civil investigations, including significant amounts from the Silk Road and the Bitfinex hack.
Many crypto group leaders think that if the U.S. government starts buying BTC, it could trigger a chain reaction that leads to massive adoption. The co-founder of the exchange aggregator 1inch, Sergej Kunz, said that if the U.S. starts buying Bitcoin for its strategic reserve, even smaller countries might soon struggle to obtain the cryptocurrency.
Hayes remains confident that the Bitcoin cycle will follow the same pattern leading into the altcoin season as it did back in 2021, despite other analysts having different opinions. At the time of writing, Bitcoin dominates the crypto market, making up 64.78% of its total value, according to TradingView.
This represents an 11.68% increase since Jan. 1, when Bitcoin dominance was just below 60%. At that point, several analysts had predicted this level would represent its peak before the altcoin season onset.
Multiple analysts were skeptical that BTC dominance would ever reach 70% again. One of these skeptics, Benjamin Cowen, stated in August that he didn’t think it would go back to 70% and aimed for a Bitcoin dominance of 60%.
