U.S. Government Creates Strategic Bitcoin Reserve With Seized Assets

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order this Thursday to establish a cryptocurrency reserve including Bitcoin and other currencies.

According to Reuters, the announcement has been made ahead of a crypto meeting the White House had scheduled for this Friday.

David O. Sacks, White House AI and Crypto Czar—and head of the Working group to develop crypto regulations announced in January by Trump—, explained on the social media platform X, that the new “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” will be capitalized with the Bitcoin the U.S. government has seized from criminal and civil proceedings.

“It is estimated that the U.S. government owns about 200,000 bitcoins; however, there has never been a complete audit,” wrote Sacks. “The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold.”

The official order also suggests that the U.S. government could purchase cryptocurrencies. “The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies impose no incremental costs on American taxpayers,” states the document.

This new order comes after Bitcoin dropped under $80,000 in the market a few days ago—and experts suggested a combination of multiple factors including that the Trump administration had stopped making advancements and progress in the crypto market. However, the cryptocurrency’s value has not significantly increased.

According to the BBC, experts and crypto enthusiasts have criticized the measure for lack of transparency over the process and for not taking bolder steps. “Without a clear framework, we risk arbitrary asset selections, which would distort the markets and drive a loss of public trust,” said Jason Yanowitz, Co-Founder of crypto firm Blockworks, in response to the order.

More details are expected after the summit Trump will hold with crypto founders and investors.