U.S. bitcoin reserve still on the drawing board 16 months after Trump ordered it
Sixteen months after Trump's executive order, the White House says it is still evaluating whether Treasury or Commerce should house a U.S. bitcoin reserve, and Congress has passed no law to back it.
The Trump administration has yet to build the strategic bitcoin reserve the president ordered in March 2025, and the White House now says it is still "evaluating the best structure" for it, according to CoinDesk, which cited a statement from White House spokeswoman Liz Huston and a July 6 Bloomberg report.
The sticking point, per Bloomberg's reporting as relayed by CoinDesk, is bureaucratic: the Treasury and Commerce departments are each making a case to house the reserve and a separate stockpile of other crypto assets, and no decision has been made. Sixteen months on, the fund does not exist.
The deeper problem is legal, not administrative. The White House's chief crypto adviser, Patrick Witt, and his predecessor have both said Congress would need to pass legislation to fully establish and activate the fund — an executive order alone doesn't carry the force of law. No bill has advanced in either chamber. CoinDesk notes that if Republicans lose the House or both chambers in this year's midterms, the odds of formalizing the concept drop further.
The government's existing holdings — estimated at more than 300,000 BTC, worth roughly $21 billion — largely come from seizures; the agencies have declined to disclose the exact figure. Trump's order asked the administration to find ways to acquire more bitcoin without taxpayer money, but no acquisition mechanism has been finalized.
Key facts
- White House says it is still "evaluating the best structure" for the reserve — statement to CoinDesk from spokeswoman Liz Huston.
- Treasury and Commerce both vying to house the fund; no decision made — Bloomberg, July 6, 2026, via CoinDesk.
- Executive order issued March 2025; ~16 months elapsed with no operational reserve — CoinDesk.
- No enabling legislation has advanced in the Senate or House — CoinDesk, citing advisers Patrick Witt and his predecessor.
- U.S. holdings estimated at 300,000+ BTC (~$21 billion); exact number undisclosed — CoinDesk.
- BTC price ~$64,303 at writing, down about a third from ~$93,000 when the order was issued — CoinDesk.
- Trump's personal bitcoin holdings exceed $50 million — his recent financial disclosure, per CoinDesk.
The real-world read
The gap between announcement and action is the story. A reserve the crypto sector treated as a "done deal" in March 2025 still has no home, no funding mechanism, and no legal foundation — and the administration won't say how much bitcoin it already holds. Calling it a "strategic reserve" is a stretch on the government's own terms: CoinDesk notes it doesn't fit the usual definition, since it's meant to be held indefinitely, not tapped in emergencies. Worth flagging: the president personally holds $50 million-plus in bitcoin while his administration weighs a federal buyer of the same asset — a conflict the sources note but the White House statement does not address.
Opinion, and whose
The White House (Huston) frames the delay as diligence toward Trump's vision of America as "the global capital of cryptocurrency." CoinDesk characterizes crypto lobbyists and enthusiasts as "frustrated" by a year of inaction. The midterm risk to any legislation is CoinDesk's assessment, not a stated fact.
Note: single-source item, anchored on CoinDesk's reporting of a Bloomberg report; figures are estimates the government has not confirmed. This is news, not financial advice.