David Sacks, the White House AI and cryptocurrency lead, explained why Trump mentioned XRP, Solana, and Cardano in his comments about the U.S. cryptocurrency strategic reserve. Sacks stated that Trump simply referred to the top five cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and believes that people have over-interpreted this. Following the mention of these coins, their prices surged nearly 70%. Sacks also indicated that it is still uncertain whether the federal government holds these cryptocurrencies and emphasized an executive order requiring a comprehensive audit of government digital asset holdings. This order also established a U.S. digital asset reserve, primarily composed of assets seized through criminal or civil litigation. Sacks mentioned that the government may explore lending or staking the cryptocurrencies it holds.

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White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks shed light on why President Donald Trump included XRP, Solana and Cardano in his posted comments about a U.S. crypto strategic reserve last Sunday.Many in the industry questioned the inclusion of these particular altcoins, arguing that they lack the developer activity and decentralization seen in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Sacks' comments came after Thursday night’s executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve."Well, the president just mentioned the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap, so I think people are reading into this a little bit too much," Sacks said Friday on Bloomberg TV. "He just mentioned the top five."Just mentioning those coins caused spikes nearing 70% last weekend before a pullback. Sacks said Friday that "we're not sure" whether the federal government owns any of those alternative cryptocurrencies, doubling down on the executive order's call for a full audit of its current reserves."In terms of what we'll actually have, we have to do the accounting," Sacks said. "We know it owns Bitcoin. I believe it owns some Ethereum. I'm not sure about the other ones. No one's been able to give us a straight answer yet."The executive order directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings. The U.S. government possesses 198,109 BTC,worth about $17 billion at the current market price, according to the website Bitcoin Treasuries. The order also establishes a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, consisting of assets other than bitcoin forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings. The government will not acquire additional assets for the stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.Sacks also said the federal government could explore lending or staking on the cryptocurrencies it owns."The idea of this executive order is to create the mandate," Sacks said Friday. "We're going to do the audit, then we're going to move them into a separate account for safekeeping. And then the secretary of treasury and his team will be able to exercise portfolio management and long-term or responsible stewardship. And yes, that could include staking, it could include rebalancing [and] it could include sales. These are all options they can pursue if the secretary of treasury believes these are in the long-term interest of the American people."Several leading crypto executives are set to attend a crypto summit hosted by President Trump in Washington, D.C. on Friday afternoon.The prices of both XRP and ADA are down about 7% over the past 24 hours, according to The Block's crypto price data. SOL is holding up relatively well, down about 1.3%. Bitcoin and ether are down 2% and 2.7%, respectively, over the same timeframe.

David Sacks explains the reasons why Trump mentioned XRP, SOL, and ADA.