U.S. President Donald Trump is reported to be maintaining his willingness to make additional purchases to expand the U.S. government’s strategic bitcoin reserve.
CoinPost, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Wednesday that Patrick Witt (패트릭 위트), who led the White House crypto council through October, said Trump is continuing to review ways to buy bitcoin without increasing fiscal spending.
Witt took a cautious stance on the government directly buying bitcoin in the open market. He cited unresolved questions about legality and market impact, and said Congress could insert language into the National Defense Authorization Act banning government bitcoin purchases if the move proceeds with unclear authority.
The administration is therefore reported to be reviewing several ways to secure bitcoin without additional budget spending. Options cited include using the Exchange Stabilization Fund, converting digital assets other than bitcoin held by the government into bitcoin, accepting bitcoin in the process of tax or fee payments, and readjusting the accounting valuation of government-held gold.
The discussions align with Trump’s pledge in July 2024, when he was a presidential candidate, that he would not sell bitcoin held by the government. Trump later signed an executive order on March 6, 2025 to create a strategic bitcoin reserve. The executive order said the federal government would use bitcoin that has completed forfeiture procedures as its source, and instructed the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department to develop acquisition strategies that impose no additional burden on taxpayers, but it did not present a plan to buy bitcoin directly in the market.
Still, plans to expand the reserve are facing constraints in Congress. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis supports legislation that would allow the government to acquire up to 1 million BTC over 5 years, but observers say the chances of passage have effectively fallen after Democrats took control of both chambers in the November midterm elections.
Witt also said a reserve created only by an executive order could be reversed by the next administration. He said the reserve policy needs legal support, but added it would be difficult to pass as a standalone bill.
From a market perspective, the remarks are closer to a signal that the Trump administration is maintaining its bitcoin reserve policy. It remains uncertain whether actual purchases would be made in the open market or carried out through indirect methods such as internal asset reallocations and accounting adjustments. With the congressional landscape also changing, the key issue is increasingly how far the administration can make its bitcoin acquisition strategy more concrete within the scope of an executive order.
