Howard Lutnick said Bitcoin will likely be treated differently than the other assets tipped to be in the US crypto reserve.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed that the Trump administration will unveil plans for a strategic Bitcoin reserve at the upcoming White House Crypto Summit on March 7.
In an interview with The Pavlovic Today, Lutnick clarified that Bitcoin
will likely have a special status in the country’s national cryptocurrency reserve, which will include Ether , Solana , Cardano and XRP .
“The president definitely thinks that there’s a Bitcoin strategic reserve,” Secretary Lutnick said. “Now, there will be the question of, how do we handle the other cryptocurrencies. And I think the model is going to be announced on Friday when we do that.”
President Donald Trump has faced criticism since announcing on social media that the country’s crypto reserve would include assets other than Bitcoin. Critics say centralized altcoins should not be included alongside Bitcoin, which is the only decentralized commodity that can be used as a long-term store of wealth.
Even notorious Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff, who refused to invest in the digital asset when it was valued at less than $100, said he understands the rationale behind a BTC-only reserve but not one that includes altcoins.
In response, Lutnick reiterated Trump’s interest in a Bitcoin-only stockpile without dismissing the other assets in the proposed basket.
“So Bitcoin is one thing, and then the other currencies, the other crypto tokens, I think, will be treated differently — positively, but differently,” said Lutnick.
Related: As Trump tanks Bitcoin, PMI offers a roadmap of what comes next
White House Crypto Summit gains traction
President Trump is scheduled to hold the first-ever White House Crypto Summit on March 7, where up to 25 participants have been confirmed so far. The invite list includes Strategy founder Michael Saylor, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
The summit reflects the US government’s historic pivot toward digital assets under President Trump, who vowed to make America the blockchain and crypto capital of the world during the election.
Under Trump, the Securities and Exchange Commission has established a Crypto Task Force to carve out a “sensible regulatory path” for the sector. The task force has already met with several industry representatives to better understand their regulatory pain points.
Meanwhile, the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence has engaged with industry experts on a range of issues, from stablecoin regulations to which agency should be given spot market authority over crypto.
Related: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
