A recent Wall Street Journal editorial highlighted the stiff competition  for the “dumbest economic policy” proposed during the current U.S. Presidential campaign. High on the list are tariffs, food price controls, and opposition to the acquisition of U.S. Steel by a Japanese firm. We suggest adding to this list the recent proposals to establish a national stockpile, or even a strategic reserve, of Bitcoin. Rather than accumulating Bitcoin, we urge policymakers to quickly sell whatever they have or receive.

In the past, we argued that, rather than elaborating a regulatory framework that helps legitimize crypto, authorities should simply let it burn (see here and here). However, now that the SEC has granted U.S. asset managers the authority to offer spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) and the Europeans have a articulated a full set of rules (MiCA), it is no longer feasible for authorities to simply ignore crypto. Even so, the fact that we now need to regulate crypto is surely not a justification for the U.S. government to hoard Bitcoin.