The ambitious plan of the Trump administration to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) has encountered serious bureaucratic obstacles. At the heart of the delay lies a fundamental dispute between key agencies: who will control and manage this unique asset.
A March 2025 presidential executive order mandated placing the SBR within the structure of the Treasury Department. However, justified doubts arose within the government: does the Treasury have the legal authority to manage such a volatile asset as Bitcoin? The legal risks associated with the high volatility of "digital gold" prompted a search for an alternative. As a result, the Department of Commerce has become the primary contender for the role of manager.
The Department of Justice is currently acting as an arbiter and consultant, helping both agencies find a legally flawless management model. The White House, in turn, continues to weigh all the pros and cons, striving to fulfill the campaign promise to turn the US into the "crypto capital of the world."
It is worth noting that the state is already the largest holder of Bitcoin among all governments in the world. According to Bitcoin Treasuries, the US holds 328,372 BTC, valued at approximately $21 billion at the current exchange rate.
In parallel with the executive branch, legislators are also not idle. Two key bills are being actively promoted in Congress: the BITCOIN Act and the American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (ARMA). Both documents propose the acquisition of 1,000,000 BTC over five years. A key feature is the use of budget-neutral strategies, meaning purchases should not increase the national debt. According to ARMA, assets must be held for at least 20 years, although theoretically their sale is permitted to pay off the US national debt, which is already approaching $40 trillion.
Despite interagency friction, the crypto community views the developments with great optimism. Bitcoin Treasuries podcast host Tim Kotzman rightly noted that the very fact of discussing and attempting to create a state reserve is a powerful signal. This is not just support for Bitcoin; it is validation of an entirely new asset class for institutional capital allocation.
Expert opinion: While the US bureaucratic machine digests the concept of a Bitcoin reserve, we are witnessing a historical precedent. The very framing of the question "how, not whether" is a colossal paradigm shift. Delays are inevitable, but the outcome is predetermined: the world's largest economy recognizes Bitcoin as a strategic asset. The only question is the timeline and the final management structure.