A significant change in U.S. policy regarding digital assets was made on Thursday when President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve.
In a post on X, Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sacks, the White House Crypto and AI Czar, stated that the reserve will only be financed with bitcoin that has been seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases, guaranteeing that taxpayers won’t be burdened financially.
Although no thorough audit has ever been carried out, it is estimated that the U.S. government controls about 200,000 bitcoin. In order to establish bitcoin as a permanent store of value, Trump’s order forbids the sale of bitcoin from the reserve and requires a thorough accounting of federal digital asset holdings.
Just a few minutes ago, President Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it…
— David Sacks (@davidsacks47) March 7, 2025
The order also creates a Treasury Department-managed U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile to store additional seized cryptocurrencies.
The president stated in a post on Truth Social that in addition to bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana’s SOL token, and Cardano’s ADA coin would be part of a strategic crypto reserve, which alarmed many Trump-supporting cryptocurrency investors over the weekend.
Bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss wrote, “I don’t think XRP, SOL, or ADA are appropriate for a Strategic Reserve, but I have nothing against them.” “At the moment, bitcoin is the only digital asset in the world that satisfies the bar.”
Late Thursday saw a nearly 12% decline in ADA and a 5% decline in SOL, ether, and bitcoin.
Nic Carter of Castle Island Venture told CNBC prior to the announcement that the United States’ decision to establish a reserve that would only accept bitcoin would “ratify bitcoin as a global asset of consequence, somewhere in the realm of gold.”
Adding that any other digital currency would have made bitcoin appear like just another speculative fund, Carter stated, “The U.S. is clearly the most important nation in the world, and so their stamp of approval really does a lot for bitcoin.”
According to fintech investor Ryan Gilbert, the action will make it clear to organizations that bitcoin is here to stay. According to him, the ruling would set bitcoin apart from other cryptocurrencies even more.
“For the past ten and a half years, a lot of people have said that bitcoin is the best option and that the other tokens should be ignored,” Gilbert stated. “I do believe it will help bitcoin stand out from the rest in terms of the debate as a token and asset.”
Gilbert, however, asserted that the United States must exercise caution in its reserve management.
“The U.S. actively trading bitcoin is something we don’t want to see,” he stated. “A reserve should not introduce market-moving speculation, but rather serve as a long-term store of value.”
Sacks hailed the ruling as a turning point in the United States’ transformation into the “crypto capital of the world.” He previously pointed out that by selling confiscated bitcoin too soon, the United States lost more than $17 billion in potential value.
According to Sacks, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will supervise additional policy development, with an emphasis on budget-neutral bitcoin acquisition tactics.
