David Sachs, the White House Digital Assets and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lead and the virtual asset czar overseeing the virtual asset policy of the Donald Trump administration, announced on the 6th (local time) that President Trump signed an executive order on the Bitcoin strategic reserve.
Sachs explained on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), "(The asset reserve) consists of Bitcoin owned by the federal government seized as part of criminal and civil forfeiture proceedings," adding, "This means that it does not cost taxpayers a single penny."
He said, "The U.S. government is estimated to hold about 200,000 Bitcoins, but there has been no audit so far," and added, "The executive order directs a full accounting of the digital assets held by the government."
Sachs likened the government’s reserved Bitcoins to a 'digital Fort Knox,' emphasizing that the government will not sell the Bitcoins it has reserved. Fort Knox is the U.S. Treasury's gold reserve.
He also announced the establishment of the 'U.S. Digital Asset Reserve,' composed of digital assets other than the seized Bitcoins, through the executive order. Sachs explained, "The government will not acquire additional reserve assets beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings," and "The purpose of the reserve is to responsibly manage the government's digital assets under the Treasury Department."
President Trump had previously stated on the 2nd that he instructed the promotion of a strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies.
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