President Trump signs order to establish Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, will hold as store of value akin to Fort Knox

Less than a week after announcing his administration's push for a "crypto strategic reserve," U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on Thursday night.

"The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings," White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks wrote in a post on X. "This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime."

The executive order directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings. The U.S. government possesses 198,109 BTC, worth about $17 billion at the current market price, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.

Sacks said the U.S. will not sell any Bitcoin deposited into the reserve, and it will be kept as a store of value akin to a "digital Fort Knox" for the world's largest cryptocurrency. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are also authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers, Sacks said.

The executive order also establishes a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, consisting of digital assets other than bitcoin forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings. The government will not acquire additional assets for the stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.

The words "reserve" and "stockpile" have been used interchangeably over the past few months, sparking some confusion.

"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, " Sacks said.

Several crypto executives are set to attend a "digital asset summit" hosted by Trump in Washington D.C. on Friday afternoon.

Last Sunday, President Trump announced plans for a U.S. crypto strategic reserve that included XRP, Solana and Cardan0 alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum. Many in the industry questioned the inclusion of XRP and ADA, arguing they lack the developer activity and decentralization seen in BTC and ETH.

Earlier Thursday, Sacks took to social media to express his dismay with how the U.S. government has handled its crypto holdings.

The price of bitcoin was down 3.5% to $85,777 over the past 24 hours, according to The Block's BTC price data.