- Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a Bitcoin reserve and a crypto stockpile.
- Both will contain tokens already seized by US law enforcement.
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a US digital asset stockpile.
Both stockpiles proposed by Trump won’t purchase any new tokens — at least, not immediately.
Both will contain crypto already seized by US law enforcement. But the Bitcoin reserve could eventually contain Bitcoin acquired through other means.
“Just as it is in our country’s interest to thoughtfully manage national ownership and control of any other resource, our nation must harness, not limit, the power of digital assets for our prosperity,” Trump wrote in the order.
Trump first proposed the stockpile at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville last year. On March 2, Trump said it would include four tokens in addition to Bitcoin, namely Ether, Solana, Cardano, and Ripple’s XRP.
That announcement sent crypto markets soaring as investors bet the US government would eventually go on a multibillion-dollar buying spree in order to amass the tokens needed for the stockpile.
The news the government would not immediately purchase any new crypto caused the five tokens to plunge Thursday night.
Bitcoin is down 3.7% over the past 24 hours to trade just below $88,100. Ether is down 4.4%. XRP, Solana, and Cardano are down 1.4%, 3.2%, and 7.9%, respectively.
The US already held about $17 billion in Bitcoin and $122 million in Ether on Thursday, according to estimates from crypto intelligence platform Arkham — most, if not all of it, acquired through seizures.
But the US Marshals Service, which is tasked with managing seized crypto, has had a hard time keeping track of its stash, CoinDesk reported in February.
The executive order signed Thursday includes provision for an audit to ascertain the government’s exact crypto holdings, Sacks said.
“The US will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve,” said White House Crypto and AI Czar David Sacks
“It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold.’”
Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can reach him at aleks@dlnews.com.
