Kennedy Jr. promises bitcoin executive orders if elected president
Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during The World Values Network's Presidential Candidate Series that discusses fighting antisemitism and championing Israel, in New York City, U.S., July 25, 2023. (Reuters Photo)
U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised Friday to issue several bitcoin-related executive orders if elected to the White House.
“I intend as president of the United States to sign an executive order on day 1, directing the Department of Justice and the US Marshalls to transfer approximately 200,000 Bitcoin held by the US government to the US Treasury to be held as a strategic asset,” he told an audience at a Bitcoin Conference in the state of Tennessee.
Kennedy, who is running as an independent, said he would sign another executive order to direct the Treasury Department to buy 550 bitcoin daily until the U.S. has a reserve of 4 million bitcoin.
There are currently around 19.73 million bitcoins in existence, while the maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins is estimated to be reached around the year 2140 after which no new bitcoins can be mined.
“Our nation approximately holds 19% of global gold reserves. This policy will give us about the same proportion of total Bitcoin. The cascading impact of these actions will eventually move Bitcoin to a valuation of hundreds of trillions of dollars,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy added he would also sign an executive order directing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to state that all transactions between bitcoin and the U.S. dollar are unreportable and, by extension, non-taxable.
“I will also sign an executive order directing the IRS to treat Bitcoin as an eligible asset for 1031 exchange into real property,” he added.
A 1031 exchange, which gets its name from Section 1031 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, allows individuals to avoid paying capital gains taxes when they sell an investment property and reinvest the proceeds from the sale in a property of like-kind at equal or greater value.
Kennedy Jr. is the son of Robert F. Kennedy who served as the U.S. attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964. He was assassinated in 1968 while running for president.
He is also the nephew of John F. Kennedy, who was the 35th president of the U.S. from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.
