On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, as well as a separate Digital Asset Stockpile.

Why it matters

The decision represents a significant shift in U.S. crypto policy, indicating that the decentralized digital currency has shed its past political stigma and, according to Thursday’s directive, will position the country as “a leader among nations in government digital asset strategy.”

What Is A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?

Trump had previously ordered his Working Group on Digital Asset Markets to examine the possibility of creating a national digital asset stockpile, and on Sunday said that he would be establishing a government-owned crypto reserve.

Like other commodity reserves, such as gold or petroleum, the currency will be held by the government as a financial safety net to hedge against future economic instability.

“The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the reserve. It will be kept as a store of value,” said White House crypto czar David Sacks on X, formerly Twitter, following Thursday’s announcement. “The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold.'”

How Will the Strategic Reserve Work

According to Sacks, the U.S. government owns around 200,000 bitcoin—worth roughly $17.7 billion by current prices.

As stated in Thursday’s order, only bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases will be added to the reserve. However, the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are also authorized to establish strategies for contributing to the strategic reserve provided that these “impose no incremental costs on American taxpayers.”

Premature sales of seized bitcoin had previously cost the government “over $17 billion,” according to the executive order.

The Digital Asset Stockpile, announced alongside the reserve, will similarly be built up from those obtained through law enforcement actions, and consist of “digital assets other than bitcoin owned by the Department of Treasury.”

While not specified in Thursday’s executive order, Trump previously said that the government’s crypto reserve would include ethereum (ETH), as well as XRP, solana (SOL) and cardano (ADA).

What People Are Saying

President Trump’s executive order read: “Taking affirmative steps to centralize ownership, control, and management of these assets within the Federal government will ensure proper oversight, accurate tracking, and a cohesive approach to managing the government’s cryptocurrency holdings … President Donald Trump is fulfilling his promise to position America as the global leader in cryptocurrency.”

Ahead of the executive order, Economist Paul Krugman referred to the strategic reserve as a potential “rug pull” or “pump-and-dump,” writing: “While a ‘strategic crypto reserve’ sounds a lot like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—a national stockpile of oil to be drawn down in the event of an energy crisis—it would consist of nothing but a hackable string of ones and zeros on servers.”

Before the announcement, venture capital executive Nic Carter told CNBC that a bitcoin-only reserve would: “ratify bitcoin as a global asset of consequence, somewhere in the realm of gold.”

American investor and bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss posted to X: “I have nothing against XRP, SOL, or ADA but I do not think they are suitable for a Strategic Reserve. Only one digital asset in the world right now meets the bar and that digital asset is bitcoin.”

Mena Theodorou, cofounder of the crypto-exchange platform Coinstash, told CoinDesk: “This initiative highlights a long-term commitment to digital assets, potentially boosting institutional adoption without the government needing to purchase additional holdings for this stockpile. As markets react to this announcement, it could lead to increased volatility in the short term.”

Yesha Yadav, Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University and a former legal counsel to the World Bank, told Newsweek prior to Thursday’s executive order: “The announcement of a digital asset strategic reserve—not simply consideration of it—has caused a massive surge in buying across major assets like BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA. Further, a crypto summit on Friday is likely to promise further positive news for the industry. Within the industry itself, there appears to be quite a bit of surprise at this announcement, and in particular, at the inclusion of a much wider class of assets than just BTC.”

Danny Scott, CEO of bitcoin exchange CoinCorner, in comments shared with Newsweek: “As many had hoped, the U.S. government has separated bitcoin from other cryptocurrencies. Not only have they confirmed they can buy more bitcoin, but they also cannot sell it. In contrast, with other cryptocurrencies, they can sell but cannot buy more. This is massively positive for bitcoin, marking a significant step toward global differentiation—something that many in the bitcoin industry have been advocating for years. The only way other cryptocurrencies will be added to the Digital Asset Stockpile is through forfeiture.”

What Happens Next?

On Friday, the White House is set to host its first ever crypto summit, which it says is another of the “many ways this Administration is demonstrating its strong commitment to this digital asset.”

Confirmed attendees, according to Forbes, include the Winklevoss twins, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Shayne Coplan, founder of crypto-based betting platform Polymarket.