The presidential election is gearing up to be an over-the-top showdown, with Vice President Kamala Harris desperately trying to keep the Democrats from sinking and former President Donald Trump charging back like a relentless hurricane, ready to unleash chaos for the Republicans. But don’t overlook the underdog with the iconic last name—Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent wildcard lurking in the shadows.
Despite Polymarket giving Kennedy a snowball’s chance in hell—just 1% to be exact—he’s managed to grab some headlines, particularly with his latest dive into the deep end of the crypto pool. At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Kennedy boldly declared that if elected, he’ll have the U.S. Treasury buying 550 Bitcoins a day until we’ve got a cool 4 million stashed away.
Sure, this might sound like the fever dream of a guy who just discovered Reddit, but let’s humor him for a moment. Bitcoin, after all, isn’t just your typical currency—it’s entirely digital and impossible to stuff under your mattress. You can grab some on Coinbase, Robinhood, or mine if you’re feeling particularly ambitious. Unlike the greenbacks in your wallet, Bitcoin’s value comes from its scarcity, only 21 million in existence, earning it the nickname “digital gold.”
Kennedy seems convinced that this massive Bitcoin hoard could send prices skyrocketing to “hundreds of trillions of dollars.” While that sounds like something you’d hear after a few too many late-night infomercials, you can see why he’s so bullish. With only 21 million Bitcoins in existence, holding 4 million would give the U.S. considerable influence over the cryptocurrency’s value.
Even though many still see cryptocurrencies as the financial equivalent of betting on a three-legged horse, recent moves like the SEC approving Bitcoin ETFs show that the big players are starting to take notice. For the U.S. Treasury, dropping $244 billion on 4 million Bitcoins might seem like a wild gamble. Still, when you’ve got a $3.8 trillion budget, the investment poses a relatively small risk for potentially high rewards.
And hey, if the U.S. starts snapping up Bitcoin like it’s going out of style, other countries might just follow suit, boosting the value even more. Plus, this could give Uncle Sam some unexpected leverage in foreign policy and trade talks.
In today’s unpredictable financial world, betting on Bitcoin might just be the kind of crazy genius move that pays off big time. Or it could be a total bust—but you can’t win if you don’t play, right?
