The 2024 presidential election is gearing up to be a total showdown between the Democratic Party's nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Republican Party's nominee, former president Donald Trump. However, somewhere in the background lingers another candidate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent.

As of now, predictive analytics tracker Polymarket is only giving Kennedy a 1% chance to win the presidency. Yet despite this uphill battle, RFK Jr. continues to find ways to pique interest among voters.

Recently, Kennedy revealed some intriguing ideas he has revolving around cryptocurrency. While it looks like coming out victorious this November is unlikely, I think RFK's crypto outlook should be taken seriously.

What did RFK Jr. say about Bitcoin?

Last month, RFK Jr. headlined the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville.

During his keynote speech, Kennedy proclaimed that should he become president, he would direct the U.S. Treasury to acquire 550 Bitcoin (BTC 3.61%) per day until a reserve of at least 4 million Bitcoins had been met.

Although some may think such an idea is too far-fetched, I actually see some merit in RFK's reasoning. Let's explore what makes Bitcoin valuable compared to other cryptocurrencies.

What makes Bitcoin unique?

Bitcoin is unique for several reasons. Unlike dollars and coins, Bitcoin cannot be physically held. Rather, it is a digital currency that can be purchased on exchanges such as Coinbase or Robinhood, and it can also be acquired through a process called mining.

According to RFK, an aggressive purchase plan of Bitcoin could influence the price of the crypto asset to eventually reach "hundreds of trillions of dollars."

While I can't say definitively if that valuation is reasonable, I understand why RFK thinks Bitcoin's price could change dramatically. Similar to stocks, the price of Bitcoin is determined by the dynamics of supply and demand.

Considering there is only a total supply 21 million Bitcoins in existence, the crypto is generally perceived as scarce and often referred to as digital gold.

Owning 4 million Bitcoin would represent a significant portion of the total supply and could give the U.S. some leverage as it relates to the price of the crypto.

A picture of Capitol Hill with U.S. flags waving in the wind

Image source: Getty Images.

Why should the U.S. Treasury invest in Bitcoin?

For now, cryptocurrency is still generally considered to be a speculative investment, given that it is unregulated and has a limited function in real-world utility.

However, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently approved a number of spot Bitcoin ETFs -- suggesting that the U.S. government and institutional investors alike are at least beginning to warm up to the crypto.

Personally, I don't think building a position in Bitcoin is such an outlandish idea for the U.S. government. The Treasury already owns alternative assets, such as gold. So, to me, an allocation toward Bitcoin simply represents another layer of diversification.

At its current price of roughly $61,000, acquiring 4 million Bitcoins would cost the Treasury about $244 billion. While this is certainly a non-trivial amount of money, the Department of the Treasury has budget resources in excess of $3.8 trillion, according to USASpending.gov.

Moreover, I think it's plausible that other governments around the world could become increasingly interested in cryptocurrency should the U.S. Treasury build a healthy position in Bitcoin. As a result, a higher level of engagement from major government institutions could quickly influence the value of Bitcoin -- making RFK's trillion-dollar forecast not entirely dubious.

Furthermore, differentiating the United States' financial horsepower in such a unique way could potentially have an impact on more serious topics such as foreign policy and trade negotiations as well.

For these reasons, elected officials may want to seriously consider adding Bitcoin to the U.S. Treasury's balance sheet. I think owning Bitcoin carries more upside and leverage relative to the outlay required to build a meaningful reserve and see it as a savvy way to move forward in an ever-changing and sophisticated financial system.