Donald Trump signs an executive order to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a US digital asset stockpile, with the White House dubbing BTC digital gold.
After much ado, Donald Trump has signed an executive order for a Bitcoin strategic reserve. The pro-crypto president officially consented to create the stockpile on Thursday, with the nation’s existing stash as a building block.
Trump also signed an executive order to create a US digital asset stockpile. The reserve would hold assets other than Bitcoin obtained through seizures and forfeiture. From an earlier disclosure, the national wallet will hold assets like Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano.
World Largest Bitcoin Strategic Reserve
The order mandated agencies like the Department of Treasury to fully account for all bitcoins obtained from seizures and forfeitures and transfer them to the newly created reserve. At the time of writing, a public wallet tied to the US holds 198,109 BTC ($17.51 billion).
Furthermore, the executive order specified that America would not sell the Bitcoin held in the reserve. Instead, it could pursue cost-effective means to buy more of the asset in a manner that is non-detrimental to US taxpayers.
Meanwhile, the White House called Bitcoin “digital gold,” citing its scarce features. The presidential disclosure also insisted that the asset would provide strategic advantages to America.
Reacting to the announcement, Strategy’s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, disclosed that the United States now has the world’s largest strategic Bitcoin reserve. His claims stem from America’s place as the biggest government holder of the asset.
The U.S. now has the world’s largest Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) March 7, 2025
The US Loses $16.14B to Selling Bitcoin Early
Following the executive order, market intelligence firm Lookonchain shared an intriguing fact on the US government’s previous sales of its Bitcon stash. It noted that while the nation has pledged not to sell the pioneering cryptocurrency again, it has already lost $16.14 billion to premature sales.
For perspective, Lookonchain highlighted that the US public wallet has sold 222,684 BTC realized from seizures and criminal cases over the years. While it sold at $3.38 billion—a substantial gain considering it spent nothing to acquire the tokens—the bitcoins have appreciated to a market value of $19.42 billion.
Due to the premature Bitcoin sales, the country has lost $16.14 billion in today’s market.
Market Reactions After Executive Order
Meanwhile, the crypto market, which has always reacted positively to developments around the US strategic reserve, failed to respond bullishly. Instead, the market corrected considerably.
For context, Bitcoin fell to an intraday low of $84,718 early Friday before rebounding to its current price of $88,158. Other assets like Ethereum and XRP are also down 6% and 1% in the past 24 hours.
Market watchers attribute the converse reaction to the bullish development to a lack of clarity on future Bitcoin purchases for the reserve. For perspective, the executive order failed to reveal how many BTC the US would add to the reserve and stated that the country would not acquire additional assets for the crypto stockpile.
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