Donald Trump signs executive order to form US strategic bitcoin reserve; what we know so far

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order establishing the country's strategic bitcoin reserve. Trump's order comes a day before his meeting with cryptocurrency executives at the White House.

Explaining the details of the order, White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks said that the reserve will be capitalised 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,” he said in a post on X.

However, it was not immediately clear how the bitcoin strategic reserve would work or how it would benefit taxpayers.

He said that Trump kept the promises he made.

“President Trump promised to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile. Those promises have been kept. This Executive Order underscores President Trump’s commitment to making the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world,” Sacks said.

What we know about bitcoin strategic reserve so far?

Sacks said that the federal government will have a strategy to maximise the value of its holdings.

“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,” he said.

Additionally, the executive order establishes a US Digital Asset Stockpile, which will have digital assets other than bitcoin forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings.

“The government will not acquire additional assets for the Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings,” the White House Crypto Czar said.

Attendees at Friday's White House crypto summit expect the event to serve as a stage for Trump to formally announce his plans to build a strategic reserve containing bitcoin and four other cryptocurrencies.

What is a bitcoin strategic reserve?

To understand a bitcoin strategic reserve, it is important to know what a strategic reserve is.

A strategic reserve is a stock of a systemically important input that is set aside by governments or authorities and can be released to manage serious disruptions in supply.

A bitcoin strategic reserve is, therefore, a strategic reserve where the US government will keep a stock of bitcoins to release them when necessary.

It is estimated that the US government owns about 200,000 bitcoin, Sacks said, adding that there has been no audit.

“The E.O. directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings,” he said.