The price of bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) continues falling despite efforts by President Donald Trump to give the crypto world more of what it wants, including a strategic bitcoin reserve that the administration touted at the end of last week while hosting crypto executives at the White House .

The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell below $78,000 on Monday, hitting its lowest level since the days following Trump's election victory last November. It is now down 28% from its all-time high above $109,000 reached the day of Trump's inauguration in January.

Other digital assets beyond bitcoin also fell Monday, including ethereum ( ETH ) and XRP ( XRP ). Coinbase ( COIN ), a cryptocurrency exchange, dropped more than 17% Monday.

Trump’s pro-crypto stance was enough to lift digital assets higher in the period after his November election due to widespread optimism about a more favorable approach to the industry in Washington, D.C.

But that pro-crypto stance is no longer enough to overcome a variety of other economic worries, including growing concerns about the US economy and Trump’s unpredictable trade policy. Bitcoin’s price has whipsawed in recent weeks in its worst correction since a 2022 meltdown .

"While the early parts of the crypto sell-off in January and early February had nothing to do with the global macro picture, the last two weeks have 100% been driven by the equity market tantrum," Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer for crypto asset manager Arca, said in a Monday note.

“It's the macro conditions that are freaking everybody out right now." added JP Richardson, the CEO of cryptocurrency wallet platform Exodus ( EXOD ), in an interview with Yahoo Finance Monday. "Those of us that are in the industry remain hyper bullish…I'm trying to buy as much bitcoin as I can right now."

Of the move downward in recent weeks, he said that "I think this is very temporary,” noting that “we have the best setup for a bull market in crypto to come. I mean, now we have a pro bitcoin administration. We have a bitcoin national reserve in place."

Richardson was among the industry figures who attended the White House summit Friday.

But there was also some disappointment within the crypto industry about Trump’s bitcoin reserve announcement last week.

Some were hoping the government would make it clear that it would be buying more digital assets, as opposed to simply seeding the stockpile with crypto already seized in legal proceedings.

"The market reaction reflects a reset in expectations," Haider Rafique, chief marketing officer for crypto exchange OKX, said via email.

While Rafique said he considers the reserve a "milestone" that “cements bitcoin’s legitimacy on the global stage," he pointed out that the order won’t immediately drive more demand for the world’s largest cryptocurrency — thus "disappointing those expecting aggressive accumulation" by the US government.

The bitcoin strategic reserve announced last week was one of Trump's biggest promises to the crypto world, something he touted while on the campaign trail last year while pledging to make the US the "crypto capital of the planet."

Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks said on X that the US government owns an estimated 200,000 bitcoins worth over $17 billion after selling off about half of what it acquired through criminal seizures, although he said there has never been a complete audit.

Had the government not sold that sum for roughly $360 million over the last decade, according to White House officials, its bitcoin holdings would potentially be worth $17 billion more.

Sacks said the US will not sell any bitcoin once it is in the reserve and that it will be kept as a store of value.

The reserve, he added, "is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called 'digital gold.'"

One unknown question about the reserve announced last week by Sacks and Trump is whether it will be used to buy more bitcoin beyond the assets already held by the US government.

Sacks said that the secretaries of Treasury and Commerce have the authorization “to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC Friday that seized crypto assets would go into the reserve first and "then we'll see what the way forward is for more acquisitions for the reserve. And we're starting with bitcoin, but it's an overall crypto reserve."

But Sacks made it clear the government would not acquire additional assets for that stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.

Richardson attended the crypto summit at the White House Friday and is optimistic about what the swerve might be able to do.

"Creating the reserve was the beginning, right?" said Richardson, the CEO of cryptocurrency wallet platform Exodus.

"Promises made, promises kept... You can imagine a world where they take, like, say, 5% of the gold in Fort Knox and buy bitcoin... there's other strategies that I think that can be employed to acquire more bitcoin. But it remains to be seen what the administration will actually do yet."

Coinbase Global CEO Brain Armstrong told Yahoo Finance that because "the United States government is now a holder of bitcoin, maybe a buyer," he thinks "the rest of the G20 [countries] are going to see that as a signal that bitcoin is really the successor to the gold standard."

Trump, he added, “really breathed life back into this industry."

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