The White House is about to officially announce the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve — and the official leading the charge says the hard part is done.
Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets, One interviewer said This week the administration has cleared a major legal hurdle in standing on reserve.
“We will have an announcement,” Witt said. “I wish I could say more… It’s a huge accomplishment in terms of putting everything in place legally, and properly protecting the assets.”
The reference comes on the heels of a similar announcement made by Witte at the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas, where he told the audience that an update would be coming within weeks.
President Trump I fell The executive order that created the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve came out on March 6, 2025. Since then, Witt says his deputy, Harry John, has led the interagency process: identifying existing legal authorities, commissioning the necessary legal notes, and building a custody and reporting infrastructure across federal agencies that was designed for gold, not private keys.
The reserve contains an estimated 328,372 bitcoins — roughly 1.6% of the total global supply — accumulated through law enforcement seizures, including the Silk Road takedown, the 2022 Bitfinex hack recovery, and years of criminal forfeitures.
Executive order Bars Treasury from selling one currency.
The Bitcoin government hack set the US government on fire
Witt pointed to a breach in the U.S. Marshals Service as evidence that the reserve’s security mandate is urgent. A government contractor named John DeGeta It was allegedly stolen More than $46 million in cryptocurrencies were removed from USMS custody accounts in late 2025, and the FBI arrested him in March 2026. A separate theft of $24 million was traced to October 2024.
“It is a clear example of why the president must create the SBR,” Witt said.
The executive order expires the moment a new president takes office. This weakness is the main argument of two bills now moving through Congress. Rep. Nick Begich Recently rebranded The Bitcoin law is the American Reserves Modernization Act (ARMA), which He will authorize The US Treasury will purchase up to 200,000 bitcoins per year for five years – holding holdings for a minimum of 20 years. Sen. Cynthia Lummis has set Congress as a deadline and pushed for a vote before the summer recess as the midterm campaign begins to consume attendees’ time.
If the Bitcoin Act passes, the Treasury Department’s first open market purchase of Bitcoin is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2026 – making the United States the first sovereign nation to actively accumulate Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset.
