President Trump signs executive order creating a strategic bitcoin reserve

President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a strategic bitcoin reserve as well as a U.S. digital asset stockpile on Thursday, a day ahead of the White House hosting a crypto summit involving founders, ceo and investors in the cryptocurrency industry.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order creating a strategic bitcoin reserve as well as a U.S. digital asset stockpile, the White House announced Thursday.

The executive order, which was signed by Trump in the Oval Office, comes a day ahead of the White House hosting a crypto summit that will involve founders, CEOs and investors in the cryptocurrency industry.

According to a White House fact sheet, the bitcoin strategic reserve will hold only bitcoin and will be capitalized with the roughly 200,000 bitcoins in the Treasury’s possession, which were seized over the years as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Other agencies holding bitcoins will also look at potentially transferring them to the reserves.

“This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime,” billionaire David Sacks, the White House’s so-called crypto czar, said on X.

The bitcoins deposited will not be sold and will be maintained as a store of reserve assets, the White House said, with Sacks describing it on X as “a digital Fort Knox.”

“Premature sales of bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers over $17 billion in lost value,” Sacks claimed. “Now, the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings.”

The executive order also established a U.S. digital asset stockpile, consisting of digital assets other than bitcoin, which are also in possession of the Treasury via forfeitures.

UPI has reached out to the Treasury for comment.

White House officials said agencies under the executive order are directed to provide an accounting of their digital assets to the treasury and the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.

“The purpose of the Stockpile is responsible stewardship of the government's digital assets under the Treasury Department,” Sacks said.

Last week, Trump announced that the United States would create what he called a “strategic crypto reserve” that would house bitcoin and other digital currencies together.

Though initially skeptical about cryptocurrencies, Trump embraced the digital currency industry and its enthusiasts during his 2024 campaign.

Since being elected, he has created what some analysts have described as a crypto-friendly Cabinet and government. Billionaire Elon Musk is the most well-known of the new officials, having been put unofficially in charge of the quasi-government agency known as the Department of Government Efficiency.

Sacks is a Musk ally and both are considered members of the so-called PayPal mafia of founders and executives of the digital payment processing service who have gone on to develop other successful tech and venture capitalist companies.

The announcement comes a day before the first-ever White House Crypto Summit, which is to be attended by “prominent founders,” CEOs and investors form the crypto industry.

Latest Headlinesoutput: March 6 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump has signed an executive order creating a strategic bitcoin reserve as well as a U.S. digital asset stockpile, the White House announced Thursday.

Trump signed the executive order in the Oval Office, the White House said. The order establishes a bitcoin strategic reserve, which will hold only bitcoin and be capitalized with the roughly 200,000 bitcoins in the Treasury's possession, which were seized over the years as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Other agencies holding bitcoins will also look at potentially transferring them to the reserves.

"This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime," billionaire David Sacks, the White House's so-called crypto czar, said on X.

The bitcoins deposited will not be sold and will be maintained as a store of reserve assets, the White House said, with Sacks describing it on X as "a digital Fort Knox."

"Premature sales of bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers over $17 billion in lost value," Sacks claimed. "Now, the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings."

The executive order also established a U.S. digital asset stockpile, consisting of digital assets other than bitcoin, which are also in possession of the Treasury via forfeitures.

UPI has reached out to the Treasury for comment.

According to the White House, agencies under the executive order are directed to provide an accounting of their digital assets to the treasury and the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.

"The purpose of the Stockpile is responsible stewardship of the government's digital assets under the Treasury Department," Sacks said.

Last week, Trump announced that the United States would create what he called a "strategic crypto reserve" that would house bitcoin and other digital currencies together.

"We're going to be creating a major Strategic Crypto Reserve, perhaps in a new Fort Knox, to hold the Bitcoin and other digital currency that has been seized and brought in over the years, vast amounts of it," Trump said at the time.

Though initially skeptical about cryptocurrencies, Trump has come to embrace the digital currency industry and its enthusiasts during his 2024 campaign.

Since