On March 6, 2025, President Donald Trump put pen to paper and signed an executive order to launch a Bitcoin Reserve for the United States. The order, called “Creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile,” sets up a special reserve for Bitcoin and aims to make America a top player in the digital money game.
This move keeps a promise Trump made during his campaign to support the growing cryptocurrency industry and protect the nation’s digital wealth. The new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve starts with Bitcoin the U.S. government already owns.
This stash comes from assets the Treasury Department grabbed during criminal and civil forfeiture cases, like when law enforcement seized crypto from illegal activities. Experts estimate the U.S. holds about 200,000 Bitcoins, worth roughly $17 billion as of early 2025.
Trump’s order says the government won’t sell this Bitcoin. Instead, it keeps it locked away as a permanent treasure, much like the gold stored in Fort Knox.
Alongside the Bitcoin Reserve, the order creates a separate pile called the “U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.” This stockpile holds other cryptocurrencies the government has taken in forfeiture cases. Unlike the Bitcoin Reserve, the government won’t add new digital coins to this pile beyond what it already has.
Trump’s team sees this as a way to keep America ahead in the fast-moving world of digital money. The order tells the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce to figure out smart ways to get more Bitcoin without spending taxpayer dollars.
They’ll look for budget-neutral plans, meaning the government won’t dip into its wallet to buy extra coins. This careful approach shows Trump wants to grow the reserve without adding costs for everyday Americans.
Promises kept; US debt to reduce
Speaking about the Order, David Sacks, White House AI and Crypto Czar, stated that Trump has kept to his campaign promise as the president said he’ll make the US the “crypto capital of the world.”
“I want to thank the President for his leadership and vision in supporting this cutting-edge technology and for his rapid execution in supporting the digital asset industry,” he noted. “I also want to thank the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.”
In a CNBC interview on November 14, 2024, Saylor suggested that if the US government were to acquire 1 million Bitcoins over five years—as proposed in Senator Cynthia Lummis’ bill—this could reduce the US national debt by $16 trillion, or approximately 45% of the debt at that time.
Crypto summit with POTUS on the way
Trump signed the order just one day before hosting a big “Crypto Summit” at the White House on March 7, 2025. Industry leaders from the cryptocurrency industry will sit down with the president to talk about the future of digital assets in America.
The summit proves Trump means business when he says he wants the U.S. to lead the charge in this high-tech financial frontier.
This isn’t the first time Trump has taken steps to make crypto great in the US. Back on January 23, 2025, he signed another executive order called “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology.” That earlier order set up a group to study the idea of a national digital asset stockpile, but it didn’t go as far as creating one.
Trump’s interest in Bitcoin grew during his campaign, when he promised not to let the government sell off its Bitcoin holdings.
Supporters cheered the idea, seeing it as a way to protect America’s stake in a currency that’s soared in value over the past decade. Bitcoin, which started as a quirky internet experiment, now commands attention from Wall Street to Main Street.
