On March 6, the White House announced Executive Order 14233 to establish the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. This order aims to leverage bitcoin’s “scarcity and security” by maintaining it as a reserve asset. The order directed the Secretary of the Treasury to create an office to manage these accounts, ensuring that bitcoin held by the Treasury as a result of criminal or civil asset forfeiture or received in satisfaction of civil money penalties imposed by the government deposited into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve would not be sold but rather maintained to meet governmental objectives, which are not further specified by the order.
The initiative also included the creation of the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile, which will encompass all digital assets other than bitcoin also acquired through forfeiture proceedings and civil money penalties. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce will be required to develop strategies for acquiring additional government bitcoin without increasing costs to taxpayers. Additionally, all agencies must report their holdings and transfer any government digital assets to these reserves.
