White House Drops Bombshell: US Bitcoin Reserve Update Coming in 'Next Few Weeks'

In a major development for the crypto space, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, announced at CoinDesk's Consensus Miami conference that an update on the long-anticipated U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) is coming "in the next few weeks."

The federal effort to inventory, centralize, and secure U.S.-held bitcoin and other digital assets has been running behind the scenes for months. Following President Trump's executive order, the White House halted what Witt called "fire sale" liquidations under the previous administration and began auditing crypto holdings across agencies.

Shocking revelations emerged during this process: "We've heard stories and confirmed some of them of cold wallets that were being stored in drawers of desks in various agencies," Witt revealed.

A recent exploit involving assets held by the U.S. Marshals Service served as a wake-up call. Bloomberg reported in January that the Marshals Service was investigating a possible hack, with on-chain investigator ZachXBT claiming a hacker stole over $60 million, including funds from government seizure wallets. Witt cited this as proof that federal crypto holdings need proper safeguarding.

"It's a case in point for why it was so necessary that the president established the SBR, and that he instructed the agencies to take these assets very seriously and properly safeguard them," Witt said. "Custody is unique for digital assets."

While Witt declined to disclose the size of federal crypto holdings, he emphasized that the priority is to "get our own house in order" before discussing details. He suggested the upcoming announcement would address open questions on size and structure.

Importantly, the reserve will not automatically absorb every newly seized asset. Crypto from active legal proceedings will remain in pending status until forfeiture is finalized, with potential restitution to victims before being moved to the reserve or a separate stockpile for other crypto assets.

Legislative backing is still needed. Witt cited Sen. Cynthia Lummis's BITCOIN Act in the Senate and Rep. Nick Begich's American Reserves Modernization Act in the House as key bills to codify the reserve. "It always needs to be followed up with proper legislation," he said.

The likely need for a legislative underpinning remains a major constraint, and it's unclear when Congress will find the bandwidth to push through a reserve bill.