Binance CEO Richard Teng, head of the largest crypto exchange in the world, said that President Trump’s Bitcoin reserve will spark more governments across the globe to consider Bitcoin adoption.
“The messaging is: The largest government, the largest economy, the biggest capital market in the world, is now holding Bitcoin as part of a reserve. [This will] cause many other governments to think through this issue,” Teng said, speaking at CNBC’s Converge Live event. “Many sovereign wealth funds are really starting to consider this issue.”
Interestingly, Teng’s comments echo those of his Binance predecessor Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who was forced to step down after pleading guilty to money laundering charges. CZ called the then-planned strategic Bitcoin reserve “fantastic” and highlighted the potential knock-on effect it could have, adding that it is “inevitable” that Hong Kong follows suit.
President Trump signed an executive order last week to establish the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a separate digital asset stockpile. However, Bitcoin slipped 5.7% in the hour following the announcement as the market reacted negatively to the reserve only being filled with assets seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases, rather than purchasing more orange coins.
For this reason, the Binance CEO said the creation of the reserve was a “good first step” adding that the biggest benefit was the strong “positivity” and messaging to other governments around the world.
“It’s not a question of whether to allocate, it’s rather [are we] allocating 2% or 5%,” he said. “We’re having a lot of these important conversations now, the long-term drivers are very, very strong.”
He’s echoing sentiments voiced by analysts at financial service giant Fidelity Digital Assets, who predicted several countries would begin stockpiling Bitcoin this year. Major countries like Brazil, Japan, and Russia have all started the process of proposing a Bitcoin reserve of some kind.
In fact, the day before Trump signed the executive order, South Korean financial experts and politicians urged the government to integrate Bitcoin into its national reserves.
Chao Deng, CEO of Hong Kong-based crypto exchange HashKey Capital, confirmed that global crypto policies are influenced by the States.
“From what we observe from our other jurisdictions—in Asia, Europe, and even more in the emerging markets—the regulators are looking up to the U.S. regulator,” Deng said at the Converge Live event in Singapore.
Current U.S. Bitcoin holdings
The U.S. government currently holds 198,000 BTC ($16.44 billion) seized through criminal and civil forfeiture cases, according to Arkham Intelligence data. Previously, the country had sold seized coins to much contention within the crypto community. But during his election 2024 campaign, Trump vowed to stop this trend.
“Just by holding on to the seized Bitcoin, for now, the U.S. is going to be much better off in the long term,” the Binance CEO said. “If you look at every government that has sold their Bitcoin—Germany, the U.S.—if you look at the value of those assets now, they are so much higher.”
Germany sold 50,000 Bitcoin in July netting $2.88 billion. At the time, Bitcoin was worth approximately $65,000 a piece but later soared all the way to $108,000 just six months later. That’s a 66% increase, meaning that Germany missed out on potentially $1.9 billion.
The leading crypto asset has since fallen to $82,613, still 27% higher than when Germany sold in the summer.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.