President Trump Signs Executive Order To Establish Bitcoin Reserve And Crypto Stockpile, Market Reacts

Less than a week after announcing his administration’s push for a “crypto strategic reserve,” United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that creates a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and a “Digital Asset Stockpile” for other types of assets, both of which will initially use crypto seized in government crypto cases.

“Digital Fort Knox”

White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks announced Trump’s executive order in a March 7 post, claiming the Bitcoin reserve initiative would not “cost taxpayers a dime.”

“The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.” 

Sachs said the US 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,” likening the apex crypto to “digital gold.”

“The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers,” he noted.

The EO directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings. Sacks highlighted the U.S. government’s estimated 200,000 BTC stash obtained through criminal seizures, bringing the initial estimated reserve value to $17.7 billion.

“Premature sales of Bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers over $17 billion in lost value. Now the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings,” Sacks wrote.

In a video showing the president signing the order, Trump states about creating the reserve, “Made the promise, right?”

Trump initially pledged to set up a Bitcoin stockpile held by the U.S. Government back in July 2024 in a bid to curry favor with Bitcoin fans on the campaign trail.

A March 6 fact sheet from the White House noted that the order also establishes a “U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile,” which Sacks said would include cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. However, he did not mention any particular assets in that category — despite some being recently named by President Trump. 

Sacks indicated that the purpose of the stockpile is to ensure “responsible stewardship of the government’s digital assets under the Treasury Department.” He clarified that the government would not acquire additional assets for the stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings.

Market Reaction

BTC fell from $90,251 to $85,091 in less than an hour after Trump signed the executive order, perhaps because of disappointment that the reserve and stockpile do not include new crypto buys. According to CoinGecko, it has since rebounded slightly to $87,923 as of publication time, still down 4.5% on the day.

Charles Edwards, founder of the Bitcoin-focused hedge fund Capriole Investments, described it as the “most underwhelming and disappointing outcome we could have expected for this week.” He contends that without a buying plan, the strategy is a “pig in lipstick.”

However, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan posited that the move to create a Bitcoin reserve reduces the possibility that the government would try to ban the asset and “dramatically increases the likelihood that other nations will establish strategic Bitcoin reserves.

Meanwhile, the executive order announcement was made on the eve of the much-anticipated digital asset summit, in which crypto executives are set to discuss policy matters with members of Trump’s government in Washington D.C. on Friday afternoon.