A long‑awaited update on the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) is on the horizon, a White House adviser said Wednesday — and it could arrive “in the next few weeks.”
Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, told CoinDesk at the Consensus Miami conference that the federal effort to inventory, centralize and secure U.S.‑held bitcoin and other digital assets has been underway behind the scenes for months. The push follows President Donald Trump’s executive order directing that seized crypto be set aside in long‑term holdings and marks a shift from what Witt described as prior “fire sale” liquidations.
Witt said the government has been auditing agency holdings — a messy process that uncovered anecdotal instances of lax custody, including “cold wallets that were being stored in drawers of desks in various agencies.” He pointed to a high‑profile exploit linked to assets held by the U.S. Marshals Service as proof of why a centralized, better‑managed reserve is needed. Bloomberg reported in January that the Marshals were probing a possible hack after on‑chain investigator ZachXBT alleged a late‑2025 theft of more than $60 million that included funds from government seizure wallets.
“This is a case in point for why it was so necessary that the president established the SBR,” Witt said, adding that custody practices for digital assets are unique and demand stronger safeguards.
Witt declined to reveal how much bitcoin or other crypto the federal government currently holds, saying the priority is “to get our own house in order” and properly secure assets before releasing numbers. He suggested the coming announcement will address some open questions about the reserve’s size and structure but declined to “front run any of the other principals involved.”
He also clarified that the SBR will not automatically absorb every newly seized asset. Crypto tied to active legal proceedings remains in pending status until forfeiture is finalized; assets may be returned to victims via restitution before any transfer to the bitcoin reserve or to a separate stockpile expected for other crypto tokens.
Much of the work to date, Witt said, has focused on legal questions: which statutory authorities let various agencies hold assets, for how long, and whether Congress can claw back funds. “This really hadn’t been explored until the president signed the executive order,” he said.
Congressional action will likely be required to codify the reserve. Witt pointed to legislative efforts already in motion — Sen. Cynthia Lummis’s BITCOIN Act in the Senate and Rep. Nick Begich’s American Reserves Modernization Act in the House — but noted that passage depends on congressional bandwidth and priorities.
For now, the SBR remains in formation. Expect more detail on its structure, oversight and scale when the White House follows up “in the next few weeks.”
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