Bitcoin investor who bought at $0.25 says US will never buy 5 million BTC

Trace Mayer, a renowned early bitcoin podcaster and advocate who began purchasing the currency as an investment at $0.25, has expressed doubts about the US government’s ability to acquire a substantial portion of the bitcoin supply.

While evangelists like Strategy Executive Chair Michael Saylor and Senator Cynthia Lummis have touted a 5 million BTC figure as an achievable, even desirable, goal for the country, Mayer cast doubt on the idea in his latest interview on the Supply Shock podcast. 

Speaking to host Pete Rizzo at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, Mayer, who is believed to hold over 25,000 BTC, noted that such a strategy would have a substantial impact on the global bitcoin price, stating: 

“They would have a hard time…Where are they going to get 5 million coins? How many coins got added into the ETFs?…[Meanwhile], the price moved from $30,000 to $80,000.”

Elsewhere, Mayer suggested alternative strategies to encourage government bitcoin adoption and accumulation.

“Maybe you don’t have to pay capital gains tax on bitcoin or crypto gains if you pay your taxes with them. That might be a way to induce more supply to come out,” Mayer said, arguing the government shouldn’t “go into the market and smash buy.” 

Still, while acknowledging that bitcoin is “a geopolitical asset,” Mayer questioned the urgency for the US to accelerate its dominance in the space. “Why would it be in the interest of the US to accelerate that any faster than it needs to? Because then it might be paying a cost that’s higher than what it otherwise needs to pay.”

Mayer went so far as to speculate that America could pursue a strategy of maintaining the US dollar’s dominance while integrating Bitcoin into the US financial system.

“Keep the world reserve currency, drain all the other nations of their physical bullion, and the thing that could potentially challenge gold, dominate that too,” he advised. “Have it integrated into your financial system, have it seated onto the balance sheets of your companies, have your individual citizens owning and holding it, have policy that encourages financial innovation, and that way you dominate.”

Mayer also suggested that the US could “extend your dollar with the stablecoins” to exert influence on other superpowers’ “monetary sovereignty.”

Though this might find America acting like a superpower, Mayer was quick to note that bitcoin is money, and that money is power on the global stage. While he was unsure of how bitcoin will reshape the global power structure, he noted it will undoubtedly do so.

“This is incredibly exciting,” he told Rizzo, noting that bitcoin is simply “fulfilling its destiny” as a potential “world reserve settlement currency.”

Editor’s note: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tooling.

---

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

• Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
• Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
• Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
• 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
• Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
• The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
• Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.