Trump Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: First WH Digital Assets Summit

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, positioning the United States as a leader in government digital asset strategy. The reserve will be capitalized with bitcoin already owned by the federal government, primarily seized through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.

This reserve will treat bitcoin as a strategic asset, similar to petroleum and gold, and will be managed by the Treasury Department. The U.S. government will retain the approximately 200,000 bitcoin it has seized, valued at around $17 billion 

This stockpile will manage digital assets other than bitcoin, including XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA), also sourced from forfeiture proceedings.

The executive order aims to centralize ownership, control, and management of these assets to ensure proper oversight, accurate tracking, and a cohesive approach to managing the government’s cryptocurrency holdings; and aims to resolve the current disjointed handling of seized cryptocurrencies.

The order allows for the Treasury and Commerce Departments to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, though no active buying is planned beyond assets obtained through forfeiture.

Trump is also pushing for industry-friendly legislation and has directed the Securities and Exchange Commission to drop some enforcement actions against major crypto companies 

This move is part of Trump's broader strategy to position the United States as the "crypto capital of the world" and to harness the potential of digital assets for national prosperity.

"A historic moment for Bitcoin and crypto. Other nations will take notice," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said reacting to the executive order.

Bitwise Head of Research Ryan Rasmussen said "This will push other governments to hold Bitcoin and adopt similar strategies."

And Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley said "This positions the U.S. as a global leader in digital assets."

Trump hosted the first-ever White House Digital Assets Summit Friday. The summit featured prominent industry leaders and government officials, including David Sacks, the crypto czar.

The president, at the summit, emphasized the U.S. government's commitment to cryptocurrencies. "From this day on, America will follow the rule that every Bitcoiner knows very well, never sell your Bitcoin. That's a little phrase that they have," he joked. "I don't know if that's right or not. Who the hell knows, right? Who knows, but so far, it's been right, and well, let's keep it that way." 

The summit included top executives from major crypto companies such as Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Gemini, Chainlink, and Robinhood.