White House advisor teases major announcement again

It was in March 2025 that U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

The reserve consists of Bitcoin seized by the U.S. authorities as part of asset forfeitures, and the order also lets the government acquire more Bitcoin through "budget-neutral ways."

It has been more than a year since Trump signed the executive order, and the reserve is not a reality yet.

Related: U.S. Army commander names Bitcoin among 'instruments of power'

Patrick Witt keeps teasing Bitcoin reserve announcement

Patrick Witt, executive director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, has repeatedly teased announcements regarding the reserve in recent weeks.

In late April, he said that an announcement on the strategic Bitcoin reserve is coming "in the next few weeks."

The team is working on the necessary machinations and legal interpretations to get everything right and protect its digital asset holdings—specifically Bitcoin—on the government's balance sheet, he added then.

In early May, he reiterated that an announcement on the Bitcoin reserve is coming "in the next few weeks." However, he refused to reveal the size of the government's Bitcoin balance sheet and said the priority right now is to "get our own house in order" before making a public announcement.

He also clarified that not every Bitcoin seized by the government lands in the reserve.

Bitcoin seized in active legal proceedings sits in pending status until forfeiture is finalized and it may be returned to victims through court-ordered restitution, he explained.

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Witt touts breakthrough in Bitcoin reserve

On May 17, Witt again teased a major announcement on the Bitcoin reserve during a conversation with The Wolf of All Streets host Scott Melker.

“We’ll have an announcement,” he told Melker. “I wish I could say more… It’s a breakthrough as far as getting everything in place, legally sound, properly safeguarding the assets.”

He also highlighted the theft of more than $46 million in cryptocurrency from the United States Marshals Service (USMS) custody accounts last year to illustrate the importance of keeping virtual asset holdings safe and secure.

An executive order expires as soon as a new president comes to office. Therefore, the Trump administration thinks it's crucial to make it a law to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

The Congress will codify the creation of the reserve, he said, and pointed to Sen. Cynthia Lummis's BITCOIN Act in the Senate and Rep. Nick Begich's American Reserves Modernization Act (ARMA), an updated version of the same bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Bitcoin was trading at $76,264 at the time of writing.

Related: Bitcoin could halve U.S. debt in 20 years, says Senator Cynthia Lummis