The post Trump’s Bitcoin Executive Order Revealed – But U.S. Lost $16B from Early Sales! appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
Trump Signs Executive Order
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to create a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve to store assets seized by the government, along with a crypto stockpile for other digital assets. The Bitcoin, all obtained through civil or criminal forfeitures, will be stored for long-term value in a “digital Fort Knox.” David Sacks, Trump’s Crypto Czar shared this in an X post.
Besides, the order encourages officials to find ways to add more Bitcoin to the reserve, as long as it doesn’t hurt the federal budget. It also calls for a stockpile of other cryptocurrencies seized by the government.
While Sacks didn’t name specific assets, recent remarks from the president suggest which ones might be included. This move could give the U.S. a bigger presence in the world of digital assets.
US Loses $16B Due To Premature Selling
Notably, the U.S. government has been sitting on a large amount of Bitcoin and may have missed out on significant profits by selling it too early. The new executive order seeks to correct this by creating a reserve that will keep these assets for the long term.
According to Lookonchain, the U.S. government’s public wallet currently holds 198,109 BTC, valued at approximately $16.92 billion. Historically, the government has transferred around 222,684 BTC to platforms like Coinbase, Coinbase Prime, and other unknown wallets. These transactions took place at an average price of $14,736 per Bitcoin, totaling about $3.28 billion at the time.
However, with Bitcoin’s current market price, those same 222,684 BTC are now worth about $19.42 billion. This means that the U.S. government has incurred a loss of roughly $16.14 billion due to selling Bitcoin prematurely.
This highlights the missed potential value as Bitcoin’s price continues to rise, reinforcing the need for a strategy that preserves these digital assets for long-term value, as outlined in the new executive order.
Market Reactions
Bitcoin dropped nearly 5% to $85,000 shortly after the order was announced, possibly due to disappointment that the reserve only includes tokens already held by the government, with no new purchases for now.
Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL) also witnessed sharp drops of 4%-8%, as the order doesn’t allow for new government buys of these cryptocurrencies.