Donald Trump had initially started off by naming Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA) in a Sunday post on Truth Social, surprising traders as these are not quintessentially known crypto names.
Later on, he added that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) would also be part of the reserve. These two are currently the world's largest cryptocurrencies.
Also Read: Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal adds this ₹4.6 crore gem to his luxury car collection | Details
As a result, his January executive order on digital assets would create a government stockpile of these tokens.
Here is everything you may want to know about the tokens:
Created by the US crypto company Ripple, XRP is at the moment, the world's third-biggest cryptocurrency, with $140 billion of the tokens in circulation, and each token worth around $2.40, according to CoinGecko data.
Ripple has also been a major player when it comes to crypto lobbying, having donated $45 million to a lobbying group which tried to influence the US elections in favour of the crypto industry, according to a report by news agency Reuters.
The company was also locked in a legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years over whether its sales of XRP in 2012 counted as an unregistered securities offering. Ripple mostly won that case, with the SEC getting a partial victory.
Also Read: Piyush Goyal holds ‘productive meeting’ with Princess Astrid of Belgium
The Solana token also runs on a blockchain with the same name and it this same blockchain is also used to launch meme coins including Trump's own cryptocurrency.
SOL is currently the sixth-biggest cryptocurrency with around $73 billion worth of tokens in circulation. However, it has seen volatility and lost most of its value in 2022 due its association with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, according to the report.
ADA, which runs on the Cardano blockchain was founded in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson who also co-founded the Ethereum blockchain project.
It is the eighth largest cryptocurrency with $31.4 billion worth of tokens in circulation and was one of the biggest gainers after Trump's announcement, briefly soaring over 70% on Friday.
Also Read: What's new with the 8th pay commission? By how much can central government employee salaries get hiked?
Bitcoin, the world's first and largest cryptocurrency with $1.7 trillion worth of the tokens in circulation, was founded in 2009 by a mysterious figure identified with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
One individual bitcoin at the moment, costs around $86,000 and it accounts for over half of the $3 trillion in nominal value of all digital currencies in the world, according to the report.
Ether is the token of the Ethereum blockchain, and this was founded in 2013-2014 by Vitalik Buterin and others to compete with bitcoin.
World Liberty Financial, a crypto company which Trump and his sons announced last year, has issued digital tokens on the Ethereum blockchain that has so far sold for over $500 million, according to the report.
Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.