WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, with the aim of positioning the United States as a leader among nations in government digital asset strategy.
The Order creates a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that will treat bitcoin as a reserve asset.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will be capitalized with bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Other agencies will evaluate their legal authority to transfer any bitcoin owned by those agencies to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
The United States will not sell bitcoin deposited into this Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which will be maintained as a store of reserve assets.
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.
The U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile will consist of digital assets other than bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury that was forfeited in criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
The government will not acquire additional assets for the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.
The Secretary of the Treasury will determine strategies for responsible stewardship, including potential sales from the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, the order says.
It requires agencies to provide a full accounting of their digital asset holdings to the Secretary of the Treasury and the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.
Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, is referred to as 'digital gold' because of its scarcity and security, having never been hacked.
With a fixed supply of 21 million coins, there is a strategic advantage to the United States being among the first nations to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, according to the White House.
The United States currently holds a significant amount of bitcoin but has not maximized its strategic position as a unique store of value in the global financial system.
It is estimated that premature sales of bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $17 billion.
The Executive Order begins to resolve the current disjointed handling of cryptocurrencies seized through forfeiture by, and scattered across, various Federal agencies.
Currently, no clear policy exists for managing these assets, leading to a lack of accountability and inadequate exploration of options to centralize, secure, or maximize their value.
Trump had promised to make the United States the 'crypto capital of the world,' emphasizing the need to embrace digital assets to drive economic growth and technological leadership.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
