Trump Establishes U.S. Strategic Crypto Reserve

The crypto industry achieved a longtime goal as President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile, Ben Weiss reported for Fortune’s Data Sheet.

Trump stated that the crypto reserve would include XRP, Cardano, Solana, and Ethereum.

The federal government will not purchase Bitcoin to establish the reserve but will instead use cryptocurrency it has already seized through existing criminal and civil forfeitures.

That amounts to approximately 200,000 Bitcoin, valued at around $17.4 billion, according to David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto czar.

He described the reserve as “a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold.’”

In addition, the U.S. will create a so-called digital asset stockpile, consisting of cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin that the government has obtained through forfeitures.

Sacks did not specify how much cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin the federal government currently holds, nor did he detail which cryptocurrencies would be included in the stockpile.

However, as recently as Sunday, Trump stated that the crypto reserve would include XRP, Cardano, Solana, and Ethereum.

During the announcement, Sacks said that the U.S. is “authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin.” However, he did not clarify whether the federal government has the same authority to purchase assets for its digital asset stockpile.