Today in crypto, US President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly open to establishing a strategic reserve that would include US-founded cryptocurrencies, not just Bitcoin. The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed arguments in its appeal against Ripple Labs, and the US government wants hacked Bitcoin to return to Bitfinex.
Trump reportedly “receptive” to strategic reserve with US-based cryptos
As Donald Trump prepares to take office as the 47th president of the United States, rumors have emerged about a potential strategic reserve emphasizing US-based cryptocurrencies instead of Bitcoin.
The New York Post, citing unidentified sources, reported on Jan. 16 that Trump is “receptive” to the idea of establishing a strategic reserve prioritizing cryptocurrencies including USD Coin 
USDCUSD, Solana 
SOLUSD and XRP 
XRPUSD.
Sources told the Post that the idea could sideline Bitcoin 
BTCUSD, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Speculation around a broader crypto reserve intensified after Trump recently dined with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty. Garlinghouse shared a photo from the dinner, calling it a “strong start to 2025.”
The crypto community has reacted sharply to rumors of prioritizing altcoins over Bitcoin.
Almeida, co-founder of Orquestra, criticized the possible move, saying, “It’s very disappointing if true. Credibility goes to -1.”
David Bailey, CEO at BTC Inc, dismissed the concept as “fake news,” sarcastically calling Ripple “Kamala coin.”
SEC files brief in appeal against Ripple over XRP
The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 15 filed arguments in the Second Circuit Appeals Court saying a New York federal court was wrong to rule in its years-long case against Ripple Labs that XRP (XRP) sold to retail investors wasn’t an unregistered securities offering.
It asked the appeals court to overturn Judge Analisa Torres’ July 2023 ruling and have XRP sales to retail investors classed as unregistered securities, along with handing an updated judgment to Ripple if overturned.
“As expected, the SEC’s appeal brief is a rehash of already failed arguments — and likely to be abandoned by the next administration,” Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty wrote on X.
The SEC’s latest filing moves forward with an appeal it launched in October after the agency partially lost its long-running suit against Ripple it filed in December 2020 as Judge Torres found XRP was security when sold to institutions but not when sold to retail investors through exchanges, as those investors didn’t know who was selling it.
At the time of writing, XRP was up 10% over the past 24 hours despite the SEC’s filing, alongside wider daily gains in the crypto market.
US government says funds from 2016 hack should return to Bitfinex
Attorneys for the US government recently submitted a motion requesting that the Bitcoin (BTC) forfeited as a result of the 2016 Bitfinex hack should be returned to the cryptocurrency exchange.
The Jan. 14 legal filing stipulated the return of approximately 94,643 BTC and unspecified amounts of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) generated through hard forks back to the exchange on an in-kind basis.
At the time, the stolen Bitcoin amounted to only $72 million. Today, that same amount of BTC is worth over $11.8 billion — raising debate over Bitfinex’s compensation plan for victims of the hack at the time.
Within days of the August 2016 hack, the exchange halted withdrawal activity and implemented a recovery plan.
As part of the plan, Bitfinex socialized monetary losses and announced that all accounts would lose 36% of their value.
In October 2024, a legal filing from the US government revealed that Bitfinex would likely be the sole recipient of reimbursement from the case due to its recovery plan to make customers whole.
