US government's controversial crypto plan sparks heated debate: 'Call me old fashioned'

Cryptocurrency has been a hot topic in recent years — so hot that even the U.S. government has considered getting in on the action. 

President Donald Trump has announced plans to have the federal government invest in a reserve of crypto. Unfortunately, that plan doesn't seem like a smart one to many tech-savvy citizens, as CNBC reported.

What's happening?

In a March 2 post on Truth Social, Trump announced that he would create a strategic crypto reserve. Alongside Bitcoin, the most well-known and trusted cryptocurrency, Trump planned to include ether, XRP, Solana's SOL token, and Cardano's ADA.

Many of Trump's backers are crypto execs and investors who wanted a reserve.

But the choice of currencies to stockpile has changed some minds about the move. Critics say Trump would be making a risky investment by buying newer, unproven currencies — enriching a few owners with taxpayer money, all to buy assets that might not maintain their value.

Vinny Lingham, the creator of blockchain startup Civic, said in a post on X (formerly called Twitter), "Call me old fashioned but I don't think the government should be pumping our crypto bags with taxpayer money while we are running a near $2 trillion deficit."

Why is the crypto reserve important?

For those who want to reduce government spending, it makes no sense to dump a pile of money into risky cryptocurrency. Critics argue this plan simply seems unwise — and recent drops in crypto values illustrate why.

Meanwhile, crypto mining requires significant computing and cooling power that demands large amounts of electricity. This drives up energy prices and also generates heat-trapping air pollution since most power plants still rely on dirty fuels. 

While some crypto is moving toward clean energy, there's a long way to go to make this form of currency eco-friendly.

What's being done about Trump's crypto plan?

Many crypto experts have spoken out against the crypto reserve idea in its current form.

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"Most — if not all — of the non-conflicted industry leaders are agreeing about this," said David Marcus, the former head of Facebook's failed crypto project, per CNBC.

Meanwhile, developers are working on more energy-efficient crypto to ease the burden of pollution this technology causes.

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