US President Donald Trump has inked an executive order for a strategic bitcoin reserve

The bitcoin reserve would be funded with bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset proceedings

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order for a strategic bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile, according to a copy of the order released by the White House on Thursday.

The bitcoin reserve would be funded with bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset proceedings, the order added.

The news was first announced on X by entrepreneur David Sacks, who is the artificial intelligence and crypto czar at the White House. Because of the way the reserve is funded, creating it “will not cost taxpayers a dime,” he said.

The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce can develop “budget-neutral” strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin — as long as there are no incremental costs on American taxpayers, according to the executive order.

“Because there is a fixed supply of BTC, there is a strategic advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve,” the executive order stated.

It added that the US government currently holds a “significant amount” of bitcoin, but has not implemented a policy to maximize the cryptocurrency’s “strategic position as a unique store of value” in the global financial system.

“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,” it said.

The White House added in a fact sheet that premature sales of bitcoin have “cost US taxpayers over $17 billion.”

“Taking affirmative steps to centralize ownership, control, and management of these assets within the Federal government will ensure proper oversight, accurate tracking, and a cohesive approach to managing the government's cryptocurrency holdings,” it said.

Sacks said the US government owns an estimated 200,000 bitcoins.

“The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called 'digital gold,'” Sacks wrote.

Bitcoin was trading around $87,500 at 9:49 p.m. ET. It was flat over 1 hour and 4.4% down over 24 hours. The cryptocurrency has been coming under pressure on broader risk-off sentiment.

Bitcoin is still higher than on election day, when the price was around $68,000.

The US will also establish a digital asset stockpile made up of other digital assets owned by the Treasury Department that were forfeited in criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, according to the executive order. There are also no plans to acquire additional assets beyond those from forfeiture proceedings.

Before this presidential campaign, Trump took a tough stance on crypto.

In 2019, he described the digital assets as “highly volatile and based on thin air” and highlighted their role in the drug trade.

However, he embraced crypto in his last presidential campaign and called himself the “crypto president.” The new administration is ending Biden-era investigations into cryptocurrency-associated companies, among other measures.