AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks speaks with President Donald J Trump as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on Jan. 23, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, marking a major shift in U.S. digital asset policy.
White House Crypto and AI Czar David Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, wrote in a post on X that the reserve will be funded exclusively with bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases, ensuring that taxpayers bear no financial burden.
According to estimates, the U.S. government controls approximately 200,000 bitcoin, though no full audit has ever been conducted. Trump’s order mandates a comprehensive accounting of federal digital asset holdings and prohibits the sale of bitcoin from the reserve, positioning it as a permanent store of value.
Additionally, the order establishes a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, managed by the Treasury Department, to hold other confiscated cryptocurrencies.
Sacks praised the decision, calling it a milestone in making the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.” He previously noted that the U.S. lost over $17 billion in potential value by selling seized bitcoin prematurely.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will oversee further policy development, with a focus on budget-neutral acquisition strategies for bitcoin, according to Sacks.