President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday creating a government bitcoin reserve along with a “digital asset stockpile” in the administration’s bid to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency.
Under the order, the federal government will retain 200,000 bitcoin already seized by law enforcement while disrupting financial crimes to establish the reserve.
“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,'” David Sack’s, the president’s crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) czar, said on social media. He added the plan will “not cost taxpayers a dime.”
The executive order, which calls for a “full accounting” of the government’s bitcoin holdings, allows the Treasury and Commerce Departments “to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin,” Sacks said.
Additionally, a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile enables the government to hold seized cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin. On Sunday, Trump said he wanted the government to hold lesser-known cryptocurrencies XRP, solana and cardano.
The president is also calling on Congress to pass industry-friendly legislation. [The Senate recently voted to dump a rule during the administration of former President Joe Biden that required some crypto businesses to report information to the IRS.] The Securities and Exchange Commission has already started dropping enforcement actions it had taken against some major crypto exchanges that were launched during the Biden era.
“You have a very hostile SEC. … They’ve been very hostile toward crypto, toward all of it, and extremely hostile like nobody can believe,” Trump said in September. “My attitude is different. If we don’t do it, China’s going to do it. China’s doing it anyway.”
More details of Trump’s cryptocurrency mandate are likely to emerge Friday, when the White House hosts a summit on the topic. The event was to be hosted by Sacks and Bo Hines, who advises the White House on digital assets.
When pressed repeatedly, Sacks brushed off questions whether the crypto blitz poses a conflict of interest since President Trump has a personal financial stake in the success of the industry after launching his own cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, days before the inauguration. “It’s not an issue,” Sacks told ABC News.
Meanwhile, World Liberty Financial appears to have bought more than $20 million in cryptocurrency two days before the White House’s digital assets summit Friday, according to a Bloomberg report.
Establishing a bitcoin reserve was one of several crypto-related promises Trump made on the campaign trail last year, an abrupt about-face from his previous declaration that bitcoin “seems like a scam.” Since then, he has embraced his role as the “crypto president.”
While initial reaction to a government bitcoin reserve is being welcomed by many in the industry, there were pockets of skepticism over establishing a reserve for a new form of currency that cannot be compared to assets such as gold and oil.
