This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe . President Donald Trump signed an executive order that establishes two things: a bitcoin strategic reserve and a digital asset stockpile. The bitcoin reserve is expected to be made up of BTC previously seized by the US government — roughly 198,000 BTC. Notably, crypto czar David Sacks said that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be working on “budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers.” Just a few minutes ago, President Trump signed an Executive Order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. This means it… — David Sacks (@davidsacks47) March 7, 2025 Which, yes, is something but arguably still a pretty vague statement. Hopefully we’ll get some more information later today at the White House Digital Asset Summit (not to be confused with the Blockworks Digital Asset Summit, so if you bought a ticket, make sure you’re booked to go to NYC not DC). The stockpile, on the other hand, is pretty clear… kind of. It’s going to be made up of crypto (sans bitcoin) that the US government holds. What that basket will consist of is where we, again, don’t have answers. What we do have is a social media post from Trump last Sunday, which seemed to imply that SOL, ADA and XRP are going to play a part. But the clear thing is that the US government will not be buying additional digital assets for the stockpile, which should ease the anxiety of some folks, including Empire host Jason Yanowitz who discussed the government’s moves with co-host Santiago Santos on today’s episode of Empire. The big theme from Santos and Yanowitz’s conversation is disclosures. They want more of them, and I think it’s fair to say that a lot of crypto wants more of them, too. Speaking from my Wall Street background, it would be incredibly clutch for crypto to have its equivalent of Edgar to track disclosures (which is the SEC’s database if you want to nerd out and see what firms are doing), as Santos suggested. Source: Arkham So here are the questions going into the summit today: What assets are going to make up the stockpile? Is it just going to be any crypto that the US government has seized? And a bonus would be any details on how they plan to add to the reserve. I’m sure there’ll be a lot more, too, but we’ll take what we can get around here. Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters: Blockworks Daily : The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam. Empire : Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Forward Guidance : Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. 0xResearch : Get alpha directly in your inbox — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more. Lightspeed : All things Solana, in your inbox, every day from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus. The Drop : The newsletter for crypto collectors and traders, covering games, tokens, apps, memes and more.
