Former President Donald Trump, a sitting US Senator, and some of the biggest names in bitcoin (BTC) Investing everyone seems to agree that the U.S. should start building a reserve of the most prominent crypto token. But concrete details are few and far between, and it’s not an idea that’s likely to be implemented any time soon.

Trump did not explicitly adopt any specifications regarding bitcoin storage when he spoke on stage. Bitcoin 2024saying only that the US should keep everything it has through existing seizures and everything it obtains in the future as some kind of reserve.

“For too long our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: Never sell your bitcoin,” Trump told a delighted crowd of bitcoin enthusiasts on Saturday. The Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election said his policy in a second term would be to maintain the government’s current holdings “as the core of the strategic national stockpile of bitcoin,” which he said would begin “transforming this vast wealth into a permanent national asset for the benefit of all Americans.”

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said at the conference that a bill she is working on would reserve the country’s current holdings of more than 200,000 bitcoins and increase until the U.S. reaches one million tokens — or nearly 5% of the supply — by converting excess reserves into the Federal Reserve system.

“This is our Louisiana Purchase moment,” Lummis told a cheering crowd at the Bitcoin 2024 event, referring to the deal that added vast territories to the post-colonial U.S. “Thank you, Bitcoin.”

The coins currently held by the U.S. government came through its seizures from individuals or entities associated with criminal activity. Nearly half of the coins – about 95,000 – came from two individuals accused of laundering funds stolen from a hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

While Lummis said the proposed reserve would be used to reduce or eliminate the U.S. national debt, she did not share details about how it would be deployed to that end, beyond the basic math that increasing U.S. government wealth would generally equate to reducing debt. More information has yet to emerge from the senator’s office as she continues to draft a bill and try to line up other senators to get on board. A spokesperson for the lawmaker did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

As the industry tried to wrap its head around the idea on Monday, U.S. officials moved a large portion of the government’s bitcoin – about $2 billion, associated with the Silk Road seizures. It’s not yet clear what’s happening with the assets and whether it’s a prelude to the sale. The government’s supply comes from criminal cases, and the U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for liquidating U.S. holdings, though it’s been proven that represent a challenge.

For various reasons throughout its history, the United States has established strategic stockpiles of a number of vital commodities, including gold, oil, grain, and helium.

“For the U.S. to establish Bitcoin as a strategic reserve, more work will also be needed, including determining how much should be held as a reserve and the basis for that limit, how to acquire it, how and where to store it, when to use it and under what circumstances, which agency would be responsible, the timeline for implementation, among many other considerations,” Rahul Mewawalla, CEO of Mawson Infrastructure Group, a bitcoin mining company, said in an emailed statement. Answering those questions “may be challenging,” and establishing a board of industry participants could help, he said.

A bill as consequential — and likely contentious — as the one Lummis has in mind would have little room for progress in the current session of Congress that ends in January. The Democratic-led Senate has yet to embrace crypto legislation enough to bring any of the existing bills to a vote, and the 2024 election in November promises to turn every policy issue into a political debate. A bill from Republican Lummis would potentially fare better in the next session if her party reclaims a majority in that chamber, though Senate measures typically need some bipartisan support to advance.

Lummis has signed onto a number of pro-crypto initiatives in recent years, including a sweeping effort to establish U.S. oversight and rules for digital assets, though none of these have yet been put into practice.

Michael Saylor, CEO of software company MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, argued that the U.S. should aim a little higher. He said it should acquire 4 million BTC to boost its Treasury and build its financial strength. He said one or two pioneering nations will get that chance.

“Bitcoin is not the solution to all of our problems,” Saylor said. “It’s the solution to half of our problems.”

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood also supported the reserve idea.

“If they do it the right way, meaning if this is not a monetary policy instrument but simply put on our balance sheet… this could be transformative,” she said.

Robert F. Kennedy, another independent presidential candidate, also came out strongly in favor of the earmark idea at the same event on Friday.

Even if that doesn’t happen, the idea alone could be enough to benefit the bitcoin ecosystem, said Pedro Lapenta, head of research at Hashdex.

“While it is still unclear if or when the U.S. might hold bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, the idea is now firmly in the realm of public policy ideas for governments around the world,” Lapenta said in an emailed statement. “This is a monumental development and will force many governments and large institutions to carefully consider the benefits of holding BTC.”

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