The UK government’s Treasury department has no plans to launch a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve

This is according to a spokesperson for the Treasury who responded to Protos' questions about its position on the US introduction of a strategic BTC reserve

The UK government’s Treasury department has no plans to launch a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve as it deems the cryptocurrency’s volatility to be unsuitable for the UK.

This is according to a spokesperson for the Treasury who responded to Protos’ questions about its position on the US introduction of a strategic BTC reserve and whether or not the UK would follow suit.

“Bitcoin and other crypto assets have been historically volatile assets relative to stable fiat currencies like the US dollar and commodities, such as gold,” said the spokesperson.

As such, they claimed, “This volatility makes BTC less suitable as a reserve asset for the UK.”

Announced last Thursday, Donald Trump’s administration has established a strategic BTC reserve alongside a “stockpile” for other cryptocurrencies. The reserve will contain BTC obtained from civil and criminal forfeitures and other financial penalties.

It claims it won’t sell any stored BTC and that it will be “maintained as reserve assets of the United States utilized to meet governmental objectives in accordance with applicable law.”

However, Trump didn’t seem to fully understand the reserve when he signed it into existence. At Friday’s crypto summit, attended by CEOs from the likes of Strategy, Coinbase, and Ripple, Trump also said he doesn’t know if the sentiment of holding onto your BTC is right or wrong.

According to Trump, America will never sell its BTC. “That’s a little phrase that they have. I don’t know if that’s right or not. Who the hell knows, right? Who knows? Who knows, but so far, it’s been right, and well, let’s keep it that way,” he said.

The UK government is currently in possession of around 61,245 BTC, valued at over $5 billion. The vast majority of this sum is attributed to a large-scale criminal asset seizure that occurred last year. RSM accounting partners suggest that the BTC could be liquidated to aid in stabilizing the UK’s floundering economy, whereas Bitcoin lobbyists are urging the government to retain the cryptocurrency and focus on increasing its price.