The White House crypto summit on Friday provided new details on the new U.S. bitcoin reserve. President Donald Trump late Thursday signed an executive order establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve and national crypto stockpile, made up of digital assets seized by the U.S. government. Meanwhile, bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices were mixed on Friday.
White House Meeting
Several industry leaders and members of President Trump's crypto task force attended Friday's event, which was scheduled from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. David Sacks, President Trump's AI and crypto czar, led the affair.
President Trump gave a brief speech to reporters at the summit, where he reviewed Thursday's executive order and saying it establishes a "virtual Fort Knox for digital gold that will be housed in the Treasury."
He noted that the federal government is one of the largest holders of bitcoin in the world, via various seizures.
"America will follow the rule that every bitcoiner knows very well, 'never sell your bitcoin'," Trump said. "I don't know if that is right or not. Who the hell knows? Who knows, but so far it's been right. Let's keep it that way."
"This is a tremendous opportunity for innovation and growth in our financial sector," he continued.
Ahead of the event, Sacks told reporters that federal departments will audit their own crypto holdings immediately, in order to begin creating the reserve and stockpile, according to Decrypt.
Sacks added that there have not yet been conversations about selling assets in reserve, such as gold, to buy more bitcoin. He said he is open to acquiring more of the cryptocurrency in a budget-neutral way, but that decision is up to the secretaries of treasury and commerce.
The summit itself featured conversations surrounding market structure, potential regulations and stablecoin bills, according to reports. The attendees included Strategy's Michael Saylor, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, as well as members of President Trump's working group on digital assets.
Elsewhere, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., hinted online that there would be more news on Tuesday. She added that she hoped to have bitcoin and digital asset legislation on President Trump's desk "soon."
Bitcoin Reserve, Crypto Stockpile
The executive order signed by President Trump on Thursday creates a strategic bitcoin reserve from bitcoin owned by the Treasury Department that has been seized as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. Other agencies will evaluate any potential transfers of owned bitcoin to the strategic reserve.
The goal is to create a "digital Fort Knox." Trump ordered the secretaries of treasury and commerce to develop "budget-neutral strategies" to acquire additional bitcoin, as long as they impose no costs on taxpayers.
Over the last decade the U.S. government sold off about 195,000 bitcoin for $366 million, which would be worth about $17 billion today, Sacks wrote online citing Grok AI.
The executive order also establishes a separate U.S. digital-asset stockpile. This will include cryptos other than bitcoin that have also been seized. The government will not acquire additional assets for the stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings. The purpose of the stockpile is "responsible stewardship of the government's digital assets under the Treasury Department," according to Sacks.
President Trump last Sunday said the digital-asset stockpile would include alternative cryptocurrencies such as XRP, SOL and ADA.
The order also requires that agencies provide a full accounting of their digital asset holdings to the treasury secretary and the president's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.
Sacks estimated that the government owns about 200,000 bitcoin, but added there has never been a thorough audit.
Altcoins
XRP is the native token for XRP Ledger, an open-source blockchain from crypto firm Ripple. The SEC sued Ripple in 2020 alleging that XRP was a security. In July 2023, a judge ruled that XRP was not a security for retail sales but for institutional sales. Ripple in 2024 was ordered to pay a $125 million fine, less than the $2 billion sought by the SEC. The regulator appealed the ruling in October.
Solana is a hybrid proof-of-stake blockchain platform that focuses on Web3 infrastructure and allows users to create nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized apps (dApps) and games. President Trump launched his Official Trump meme coin on Solana prior to his inauguration. Sacks, while speaking to reporters on Friday, said that Trump's meme coin had no impact on the crypto industry and is irrelevant.
Similar to Solana, the Cardano blockchain allows users to create decentralized finance apps, NFTs, games and other projects.
Bitcoin and ethereum are two blue-chip cryptos that were considered prime candidates for the strategic reserve. But inclusion of SOL, XRP and ADA was a bit of a surprise at the announcement.
Industry Reactions
"Incredible execution from the Trump administration and a historic moment for bitcoin and crypto," Coinbase's Armstrong wrote online Thursday night. "I expect many of the G20 to take notice, and eventually follow America's leadership."
Ryan Rasmussen, head of research at Bitwise, also expects more countries to start their own reserves. "Do you think China is no more or less likely to hold the 200,000 bitcoin they own? What about the UK? Russia? Japan? This is only the beginning," he wrote online.
Rasmussen added that the reserve means that other countries will buy bitcoin. Meanwhile, wealth managers, financial institutions, pensions and endowments "have no excuse." The market no longer has to fear if the U.S. will sell, while states are more likely to buy, he added.
"Establishing a U.S. strategic bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile is a huge moment for both crypto and American leadership on a global stage," Nathan McCauley, CEO of crypto bank Anchorage Digital, wrote to IBD. "By holding bitcoin and other digital assets for the long term, the White House is taking a future-forward approach to bolstering American economic competitiveness — not just for the decade ahead, but for the next century. Where the U.S. leads, others follow. Expect this move to catalyze crypto adoption among more governments and institutions around the world."
What About The Crypto Council?
Meanwhile, President Trump and his administration have quietly nixed plans for his promised "crypto council," Decrypt reported.
Trump in December announced that Bo Hines would serve as the executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets. The advisory group was intended to work alongside Sacks' Working Group to "foster innovation and growth in the digital asset space." The crypto council was expected to be a permanent part of the administration to allow industry leaders direct access to the White House.
However, Trump officials ditched those plans in January due to infighting among industry factions and demand for seats on the council, unnamed sources told Decrypt.
Instead, the White House will hold sporadic crypto summits like the one on Friday. The Trump administration will likely convene meetings of its internal crypto working group on a more regular basis.
Bitcoin, Crypto Price Action
Cryptocurrency prices initially fell on the reserve announcement because it meant the U.S. wouldn't be buying additional bitcoin.
Bitcoin on Friday, following Trump's remarks at the summit, fell below $87,000 from its intraday high above $90,000. The cryptocurrency dived below $85,000 on the official reserve announcement. The price of bitcoin soared to nearly $95,000 following Trump's social media post on Sunday, March 6, in which he first announced the strategic reserve.
The price of ethereum traded around $2,130 this past Friday, sliding back near its Tuesday low near $2,100.
ADA is up nearly 31% over the past week, according to CoinMarketCap. The price of XRP increased 12% over the last seven days. SOL has erased its gain and is now down 3% during that period.
Coinbase stock has pared its gains on the week to less than 1%. MSTR stock has jumped more than 12% this past week.
Bitcoin mining stocks had a mixed performance. Mara Holdings has advanced more than 15%, while Core Scientific has tumbled about 30%.
BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and the rest of the spot bitcoin ETFs have climbed 3% this week.
You can follow Harrison Miller for more stock news and updates on X/Twitter @IBD_Harrison
