The reserve would be made up of bitcoin the government already owns from criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, while the stockpile would also include other digital assets.
Crypto prices fell off the news.
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Posted March 6, 2025 at 8:36 pm EST.
Trump signed an executive order late Thursday creating both a United States Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile. Both would be made up of cryptocurrency the government already owns through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
“Just a few minutes ago, President Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime,” AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks explained in a post on X.
The price of bitcoin fell 5% from $90,000 to less than $85,000 on the news, and the global crypto markets dropped 4%, from $2.94 trillion to $2.82 trillion.
Sacks did not detail the amount of the government’s altcoin holdings, though Arkham Intelligence estimates that altcoins make up 2.3% of the United States’ cryptocurrency holdings. Arkham estimates that the United States owns approximately $17.6 billion in cryptocurrency total.
Reserve vs. Stockpile
The executive order resolves a divide within the crypto community between people who had advocated for the United States to hold only bitcoin and those who had wanted it to hold altcoins as well.
Many in the crypto community had taken the word “reserve” to imply that the United States would try to acquire additional bitcoin, while they had understood “stockpile” to imply that the United States would simply hold on to the cryptocurrency it already had. Trump’s use of the word “reserve” repeatedly had thus generated excitement that the United States government would be buying significant additional Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
Although the government doesn’t intend to purchase additional assets at this time, Sacks’ post said, “The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers.” Presumably, once those strategies are identified, the government intends to buy additional bitcoin.
Bitcoin is broadly considered a store of value, while there is less agreement about the long-term value of other altcoins. However Trump had also said previously that he wanted the United States to hold American cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet.
On Sunday, the president said on Truth Social, “A U.S. Crypto Reserve will elevate this critical industry after years of corrupt attacks by the Biden Administration, which is why my Executive Order on Digital Assets directed the Presidential Working Group to move forward on a Crypto Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, SOL, and ADA. I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World. We are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” He posted again an hour and a half later saying that the United States should also include “BTC and ETH” in the reserve.
Crypto Market Drops
XRP, ADA, and SOL fell even further than BTC on the news, likely due to the disappointment that they will not make up a significant portion of the United States’ holdings. XRP fell 7.27%, while ADA fell 9.9% and SOL fell 5.5%.
“This is like taking all the 2021 era NFTs you already own and are unable to sell and calling it a strategic reserve,” crypto humor account @GwartyGwart said on X.
Others, however, were more bullish. “When the history books are written, this will prove to be the single most important monetary policy decision since Bretton Woods,” said Bitcoin Inc. CEO David Bailey on X. “I look forward to learning more tomorrow, and outlining more than $1 trillion dollars of ‘budget neutral’ capital that can go to growing our reserve.”
Matt Hougan, Chief Information Officer at asset management company Bitwise, also said on X that he believed the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve “dramatically increases the likelihood that other nations will establish strategic bitcoin reserves” and “makes it harder for institutions — from national account advisor platforms to quasi-governmental agencies like the IMF — to position bitcoin as somehow dangerous or inappropriate to hold.” Sacks’ venture capital firm Craft Ventures invested in Bitwise, though Sacks said he divested ahead of joining the president’s administration.
UPDATE March 6th, 9:01 PM ET: This story was updated to include comments from Matt Hougan.
