The reserve will be capitalised with bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, White House crypto czar David Sacks said in a post on social media platform X.
Sacks told reporters at the White House that establishing a Bitcoin reserve should have been done a long time ago. He said taxpayer funds would not be used to acquire digital assets and that there were existing protections in place to safeguard consumers from crypto investments.
The plans disappointed some in the market who had hoped for a firm plan to buy new tokens. The announcement weighed on the price of bitcoin, last down 3.4 per cent at US$86,394.
“This (strategic reserve) is going to be the biggest point of contention for many of us,” said JP Richardson, co-founder and CEO of Exodus, a Bitcoin wallet developer. Although he owns the four coins other than bitcoin that Trump has suggested including in the reserve, he does not think they have a place in a strategic reserve.
“Crypto has made big strides, but it’s still a relatively nascent industry,” Richardson said. Other coins are smaller and function in a very different way, one he said may create more risk.
Officials invited to the summit praised Trump and executives for clearing the way for the industry’s growth. Other industry executives said it was good to see the administration being collaborative with the industry after years in which some felt they were under attack over security and consumer protection issues.
“For the first time, industry leaders feel they’re walking into a collaborative discussion,” said Les Borsai, co-founder of Wave Digital Assets, a crypto investment adviser, who said he did not receive an invitation.
Trump was upbeat about the crypto industry’s prospects, telling the summit, “We feel like pioneers in a way.”
He added: “From this day on, America will follow the rule that every bitcoin knows very well, never sell your bitcoin. 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.”
Trump’s executive order spells out that the government’s own bitcoin holdings should never be sold.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the event the US was going to keep the dollar as the world’s reserve currency and use stablecoins to do that.
