In a post on X on March 7, 2025, Thorn crunched the numbers, noting the government currently holds around 198,000 BTC. But here’s the catch—112,000 of that has to go back to Bitfinex from a past seizure, leaving just 88,000 BTC max for the reserve.
White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks said the reserve would use seized digital assets to avoid taxpayer costs, but Thorn clarified only forfeited Bitcoin, not all seized holdings, can be tapped, shrinking the pool.
we think current US bitcoin balance available for re-purpose into a reserve is max 88k BTC, only 43% of current government holdings. that’s bc of the ~198k BTC now held by USG, 112k BTC will be returned to bitfinex
market will learn the difference between “seized” & “forfeited”
— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) March 7, 2025
This news comes as President Donald Trump unveils his crypto vision at the White House Crypto Summit today, March 7, positioning Bitcoin as a cornerstone of U.S. financial strategy. The move’s been a hit in crypto circles—Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called it a “historic moment for Bitcoin and crypto,” suggesting other G20 nations might follow suit.
Galaxy’s Ryan Rasmussen added that this reserve kills fears of the government dumping large BTC stashes, boosting institutional adoption and encouraging more countries, wealth managers, and states to buy in. He also argued it makes strict Bitcoin bans or heavy regulations less likely, since the U.S. now has skin in the game owning it.
The end game was never “the U.S. government buys all of the world’s bitcoin.”
A U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve means…
– Other countries will buy bitcoin
– Wealth managers have no excuse
– Financial institutions have no excuse
– Pensions/Endowments have no excuse
– Fear of the… https://t.co/iAoyeo3PYL— Ryan Rasmussen (@RasterlyRock) March 7, 2025
