Trump indicated that there had been discussions within the United States Government about further increases in the possession of bitcoin or other encrypted assets, but that no purchase decision had been made and no timetable had been given. This means that the current policy of the United States remains unchanged, and that at the federal level, the Bitcoin reserve continues to come mainly from assets that have completed the confiscation process.
The White House event focused on digital asset legislation, market regulation and United States technological competitiveness. In response to a related question, Trump stated that he might refer to the suggestions of Paul Atkins, Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and the policy team. Participants also included the Chairman of the United States Commission for Commodity Futures Trading and the executives of Coinbase, Ripple, Robinwood and Kraken.
No new purchase arrangements at this stage
Trump ' s statement left room for subsequent increases, but no new government buy-in plans were announced. Under the current arrangement, if the United States Government is to acquire bitcoin in addition to the confiscated assets, it will still need to find a legal and “budget” way of implementing it, that is, without increasing the cost to taxpayers.
At the same time, he claimed that the encrypted assets “reduced the pressure on the dollar” and stated that it was “very advantageous” for the dollar. However, no relevant data or specific explanations were given at the site, and this claim is still under the personal judgement of Trump.
Bitcoin reserve is from confiscated assets.
Trump created the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by Executive Order on March 6, 2025. This reserve is used to hold bitcoin that was ultimately confiscated through criminal or civil proceedings. Bitcoin entering the reserve may not, in principle, be sold unless there are limited exceptions provided for by law.
The Executive Order also requires federal agencies to report fully to the Ministry of Finance on government-controlled digital assets, and authorizes the Ministers of Finance and Commerce to study options for the further acquisition of bitcoin. These programmes must, however, meet two prerequisites: that they have a legal basis and that they are not burdened by additional taxpayers.
The publicly available information indicates that the current powers of the Ministry of Finance do not include requiring banks to buy bitcoin on their behalf. The United States Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent, had previously indicated to Congress that the Government would retain the bitcoin obtained through seizure, while assessing the “budget” programme to the extent permitted by law.
Other encrypted assets are more restrictive
The same executive order also established an independent “United States Digital Assets Reserve” to hold encrypted assets other than bitcoin. The same is true of cases in which confiscation proceedings have been completed.
However, unlike Bitcoin, federal agencies cannot at present continue to purchase other encrypted assets for this pool without new administrative or legislative authority. The Ministry of Finance can only decide whether to retain or sell the assets in question in accordance with applicable law.
This also means that Trump's reference to “bitcoin or other encrypted currency” does not mean that the Government has been given the authority to expand the scope of the purchase. The expansion of the non-bitcoin asset reserve will require separate policy decisions and, in some cases, parliamentary approval.
Follow up on Treasury and Commerce.
Substantive progress is more likely to come from the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, the United States SEC or the Government Digital Assets Working Group. If the Government of the United States moves forward with the new currency purchase plan, the programme usually requires a number of core elements: size of purchase, method of acquisition, legal basis, and federal hosting arrangements.
Atkins can provide advice on securities regulation and market structure, but SEC does not normally manage financial reserve assets and does not directly execute the purchase of bitcoin at the federal level. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce, in accordance with existing executive orders, continue to be the ones that clearly have the competence to develop additional programmes.
To date, this statement by Trump has not been accompanied by a new executive order, a notice of purchase from the Ministry of Finance or a parliamentary authorization. In other words, the United States Government ' s Bitcoin reserve policy is still based at this stage on confiscated assets, and the new purchase programme is still at the assessment stage.