By Diyar Guldogan
WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve.
"Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency," the order said.
According to the order, the Treasury Department will establish an office to administer the reserve, which will be capitalized with Bitcoin (BTC) forfeited to the government as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
"Because there is a fixed supply of BTC, there is a strategic advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve," it said.
The order will also establish a US Digital Asset Stockpile which will be managed by the Treasury Department to hold other confiscated cryptocurrencies.
David Sacks, the White House czar for artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency, said on X that it is estimated that the US government owns about 200,000 bitcoins.
"The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called 'digital gold'," Sacks added.