President Donald Trump has made public, early this Friday, the executive order with which he will create a Cryptocurrency Strategic Reserve and a Digital Assets Reserve. The announcement, which took place the day before the cryptocurrency summit at the White House, concludes days of waiting after his preview last Sunday of creating a strategic reserve that would include bitcoin, ethereum, Solana, and XRP, among others.
The document published this Friday indicates that it is U.S. policy to establish reserves as secure accounts for the orderly and strategic management of the country's other digital asset holdings, and that it will be the task of the Treasury Secretary to establish an office to manage them. It also sets a 60-day deadline for the Treasury Secretary to deliver an assessment of the legal and investment considerations governing both digital currency reserves, "including the accounts in which they should be located and the need for any legislation to make any aspect of this order or the proper management and administration of such accounts operational."
A few minutes after the signing of the executive order, David Sacks, the White House czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, explained on his X account that the Reserve "will be capitalized with bitcoins owned by the federal Government that have been confiscated as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings." Sacks, who emphasized that this measure "will not cost taxpayers a penny," added that the U.S. "will not sell any bitcoin deposited in the reserve," but will maintain it "as a store of value."
He has also ordered a complete audit of the U.S. government's asset holdings, estimated to be around 200,000 bitcoins.
He also indicated that Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, "are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies to acquire additional bitcoins," as long as they "do not entail additional expenses for American taxpayers."
Finally, Sacks emphasized "Trump's commitment to make the U.S. the world capital of cryptocurrencies. I want to thank the president for his leadership and vision in supporting this cutting-edge technology and for his swift execution in supporting the digital asset industry. His administration is truly moving at technological speed," the politician expressed.
However, the reaction of cryptocurrencies has not been positive: immediately after Trump's announcement, the price of bitcoin dropped by 5% to trade at $85,000. By midday this Friday, it reduced its fall to 0.75%, although it remained below $90,000.