US Bitcoin reserve hits 328,372 BTC as Congress weighs locking it into law
Washington's forfeited Bitcoin stash, worth $25bn, sits untouchable under executive order as lawmakers debate codifying and expanding the reserve.
The United States government now holds 328,372 BTC, worth roughly $25 billion, confirming its position as the largest sovereign holder of Bitcoin anywhere in the world. None of it was bought on the open market. Every coin arrived through criminal and civil forfeiture, chiefly from the Silk Road marketplace seizures and the 2016 Bitfinex hack recovery, and the holding now equates to about 1.5% of Bitcoin’s entire 21 million supply cap.
From confiscated evidence to locked reserve
What began as a byproduct of law enforcement has been formalised into policy. On 6 March 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14233, establishing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and consolidating all federally seized Bitcoin under a single Treasury-managed structure. Crucially, the order bars the sale of any coins held within the reserve, a marked departure from previous practice, under which seized Bitcoin was periodically auctioned off.
The Treasury Department runs the reserve alongside a separate vehicle, the US Digital Asset Stockpile, which houses other forfeited tokens that are not Bitcoin. That structural split gives Bitcoin a distinct, privileged status on the federal balance sheet, one not extended to any other digital asset the government has seized over the years.
Legislation could turn a policy into law
An executive order can be reversed by a future administration with the stroke of a pen, and lawmakers appear intent on removing that vulnerability. Two bills, the BITCOIN Act and the American Reserve Modernization Act (ARMA), are moving through Congress with the aim of codifying the reserve into statute and, potentially, expanding it well beyond what forfeiture alone can deliver.
Some proposals under discussion envisage the United States eventually accumulating up to 1 million BTC, nearly 5% of total supply, through mechanisms that would go beyond seized assets. As of July 2026, those more ambitious targets remain stuck amid inter-agency coordination difficulties, and neither bill has reached a final vote.
A template other governments may follow
For European and UK observers, the more consequential element may not be the size of the US holding itself but the precedent it sets. When the world’s largest economy formally designates Bitcoin a strategic reserve asset and legally commits to never selling it, it hands other sovereigns a ready-made policy blueprint. Several governments are already understood to be examining comparable frameworks, though none has yet matched Washington’s scale or legal commitment.
With roughly 1.5% of Bitcoin’s fixed supply now effectively frozen out of circulation by government fiat, the market impact is structural rather than immediate. The bigger question for traders and policymakers alike is whether Congress moves to authorise active federal purchases beyond forfeiture, a shift that would introduce a demand dynamic markets have not yet had to price in.
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