Key takeaways:
- Patrick Witt, White House adviser on digital assets, announced that the US administration is preparing an announcement regarding the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.
- The Bitcoin Strategic Reserve was established by Donald Trump’s regulation of March 6, 2025 and is to include BTC seized by the state in civil and criminal proceedings.
- According to BitcoinTreasuries data, the US government currently controls approximately 328,372 BTC, making it the largest known state holder of Bitcoin in the world.
Donald Trump’s administration is giving another signal that the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is no longer just a political declaration. Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, announced that the White House is preparing an official announcement on this matter. According to him, work on the legal and operational side of the reserve is already at an advanced stage. This is important information for the market because it shows that the US does not treat Bitcoin only as an asset seized in investigations, but as an element of the state’s financial strategy.
What did Patrick Witt say?
Witt, in his conversation with Scott Melker and during industry presentations, suggested that the administration has made progress on the legal and technical protection of state digital assets. According to media reports, he spoke about a “breakthrough” in work on the structure of the reserve and announced that an announcement may appear in the coming weeks.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 White House Executive Director says there is an announcement coming soon regarding a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: “We’ll have an announcement…It’s a breakthrough as far as getting everything in place, legally sound, properly safeguarding the assets.” 👀
This does not yet mean that the United States will begin immediate purchases of Bitcoin on the market. This is an important distinction. The current Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is based primarily on BTC that the government already holds or that has been seized as part of criminal and civil proceedings. So it’s first about sorting out what the state already has in its hands.
Witt also pointed to the need for better security of digital assets after problems related to storing funds by US Marshals. In practice, these are matters that do not exist in this form for traditional state reserves: private keys, custody, inter-agency reporting and procedures to secure assets without the risk of losing access.
What is the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve?
The Bitcoin Strategic Reserve was established by Donald Trump’s executive order on March 6, 2025. The White House document describes Bitcoin as a fixed-supply asset, often compared to “digital gold.” This comparison results from the design of the protocol itself, as the maximum BTC supply is limited to 21 million coins.
Under the regulation, the Treasury Department is to establish and manage accounts associated with the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve. It is intended to receive BTC ultimately seized by the state as part of civil or criminal proceedings, if they do not have to be returned to victims or used in accordance with other regulations.
The most important provision concerns sales. BTC deposited in the reserve is to be held as a US reserve asset and should generally not be sold. However, the Regulation provides for exceptions, including court decisions, restitution to crime victims, law enforcement needs or other legal requirements.
This means that the popular statement “the US government cannot sell these Bitcoins” is too simplistic. More specifically, the administration has adopted a policy of not selling BTC deposited in the reserve, but the law still provides for certain exceptions.
How many Bitcoins does the US government have?
This number does not come directly from the White House order. It is an estimate based on data tracking known portfolios and government holdings. In March 2025, the Associated Press wrote about approx. 200,000. BTC previously seized by the US government. However, subsequent on-chain data and Bitcoin vault tracking services indicate higher levels of holdings.
The sources of these funds vary. The most frequently mentioned cases include seizures related to Silk Road, recovered funds after the Bitfinex hack and other proceedings related to cybercrime, fraud and money laundering.
Why is the market paying close attention to the US decision?
The importance of this matter goes beyond the sheer number of BTC you hold. The national reserve is changing the way Bitcoin is described in official U.S. economic policy. It is no longer just a speculative asset, an exchange token or the subject of criminal proceedings. In administration documents, it appears as a strategic resource that the state wants to store, secure and use in the long term.
This does not mean an automatic price increase. The cryptocurrency market remains volatile, with Bitcoin continuing to react to interest rates, dollar liquidity, flows into ETFs, regulations and investor sentiment. The White House announcement itself may increase interest in the topic, but it does not guarantee a one-way price movement.
Bitcoin Strategic Reserve and the new law in Congress
The current reserve is based on the implementing regulation. This matters because such an act may be amended or reversed by a future administration. Therefore, some politicians and White House advisers point to the need to include the reserve in the act.
There have already been projects in Congress that would strengthen this direction. One of them is the BITCOIN Act, promoted by Senator Cynthia Lummis and Congressman Nick Begich. The project assumes the statutory creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the possibility of accumulating up to 1 million BTC within five years using mechanisms described as budget-neutral.
This is important background. The Bitcoin Strategic Reserve is not created in a vacuum. It is part of a larger regulatory turn in the US that includes stablecoins, exchanges, custody, DeFi, asset tokenization and the role of the CFTC and SEC.
What does this mean for the Polish investor?
From the perspective of a Polish investor, the most important thing is to change the narrative. If the US formalizes a state-led approach to Bitcoin, other countries will need to respond to the move. They don’t have to copy the US model right away, but it will be hard to ignore the fact that Bitcoin is finding its way into conversations about reserves, government balance sheets and financial security.
For the market, the coming weeks will be a test of expectations. If the White House presents specific rules for storing, reporting and managing BTC, it will be another step towards the institutionalization of Bitcoin. If the announcement turns out to be general, market reaction may be limited.
As of May 20, 2026, Bitcoin remains around 77,000. USD, and the market is waiting not only for decisions from the White House, but also for further work on American cryptocurrency regulations.
