Donald Trump Signs Executive Order to Establish Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
US President Donald Trump issued an executive order establishing a “strategic bitcoin reserve” and a “digital asset stockpile.”
US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to establish a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and a “Digital Asset Stockpile,” both of which will first employ cryptocurrencies forfeited in government criminal prosecutions.
“Just a few minutes ago, President Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks said in a March 7 X post.
“The Reserve will be capitalised with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings,” a spokesperson said.
On March 6, the White House released a fact sheet outlining a new executive order that introduces a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. According to Sacks, this stockpile will consist of various cryptocurrencies excluding Bitcoin.
Earlier reports from Bloomberg suggested that former President Trump was preparing to sign an order on March 7 at the White House Crypto Summit, establishing a Bitcoin reserve. One proposed approach was to seed the reserve using government-owned cryptocurrency assets.
Sacks described the Bitcoin reserve as a “digital Fort Knox for cryptocurrency”, emphasizing that the U.S. government would not sell Bitcoin from this reserve but rather hold it as a store of value. The White House further clarified that the Treasury Department’s Bitcoin holdings would serve as the initial foundation of the reserve. Additionally, other federal agencies will assess their authority to transfer any Bitcoin they currently own into this fund.
To expand the reserve, the Treasury and Commerce Secretaries will be responsible for developing budget-neutral strategies for Bitcoin acquisitions, ensuring that these purchases do not impose additional costs on taxpayers.
Regarding the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, Sacks stated that its purpose is the responsible management of the government’s digital assets under the Treasury Department. However, he made it clear that the government would not actively purchase additional cryptocurrencies for this stockpile. Instead, the stockpile would only include crypto obtained through forfeiture proceedings. The Treasury Secretary would also determine strategies for managing these assets, including the possibility of selling them.
On March 3, Trump announced on Truth Social that the crypto reserve would include XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). Later, he added Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) as the core assets of the reserve.
However, according to Arkham Intelligence, the U.S. government does not currently hold any XRP, SOL, or ADA. Data shows that among the $18.28 billion worth of crypto under government control, the largest holding is 198,109 Bitcoin, valued at $17.87 billion. The third-largest holding is $119 million in Ethereum, following $122 million worth of Tether (USDT).
Despite these reports, Sacks pointed out that a comprehensive audit of the U.S. government’s crypto holdings has never been conducted. As part of the new executive order, agencies are now required to provide a full report on their crypto holdings to the Treasury Secretary and the President’s crypto working group, which was established in January to explore the creation of a crypto stockpile.
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