Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Announcement Arriving ‘Within Next Few Weeks,’ Says White House Crypto Official

The White House is preparing to announce the next steps for the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve within the next few weeks.

That’s according to Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets.

Speaking on Monday at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Witt said the administration has been working through the legal and operational framework needed to implement President Donald Trump’s reserve plan and safeguard government-held Bitcoin (BTC).

“The president signed the strategic bitcoin reserve executive order last year, and we’ve gone to work in figuring out exactly the machinations necessary and legal interpretations that we need to get that right and solidify that and protect the digital assets, specifically bitcoin that we have on the government balance sheet.”

Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 creating the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate digital asset stockpile. The reserve was designed to hold Bitcoin already owned by the federal government, primarily assets seized through criminal and civil forfeiture cases, rather than selling them at auction.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently says the U.S. government holds between $15 billion and $20 billion worth of Bitcoin and plans to keep adding confiscated BTC to the reserve, while not making direct market purchases.

Bessent also says the government plans to continue holding its gold reserve as is.

“We’ve got the large gold holding. I doubt we’re going to revalue it, but we are going to keep it there as a store of value for the American people.”

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