President Trump just signed an executive order creating a strategic Bitcoin and crypto reserve, triggering a “sell the news” event and an abrupt $5,000 drop in the price of BTC.
BTC fell from $90,251 to $85,091 in less than an hour after Trump signed the order, which establishes a national Bitcoin and crypto stockpile by holding digital assets seized from criminal activities rather than auctioning them off as had been previous practice.
BTC has since recovered to $87,202 at time of publishing.
The move had been widely anticipated and confirmed the executive action will not actively push the US to purchase crypto assets.
White House artificial intelligence and crypto czar David Sacks released a statement on the signing.
“Just a few minutes ago, President Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime.
It is estimated that the U.S. government owns about 200,000 bitcoin; however, there has never been a complete audit. The E.O. directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings.
The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold.”
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.
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.
IN ADDITION, the Executive Order 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 purpose of the Stockpile is responsible stewardship of the government’s digital assets under the Treasury Department.
PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT
President Trump promised to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile. Those promises have been kept.
This Executive Order underscores President Trump’s commitment to making the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”
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. His administration is truly moving at ‘tech speed.’
I also want to thank the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets — especially Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — for their help and support in getting this done. Finally Bo Hines played a critical role as Executive Director of our Working Group.”
Bitcoin’s price move has partially retraced a major jump triggered in large part by Trump’s pro-crypto stance.
After Trump first announced the strategic Bitcoin reserve during his campaign and won the election on November 5th, BTC surged from around $65,000 to a peak of $108,268 on December 17th.
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