US Bitcoin Reserve Stalls in Treasury-Commerce Turf War
Bloomberg reports the Trump administration is split over which agency should manage the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. 328,372 BTC sit idle with no buying timeline.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was sold to markets as a permanent government buyer. Sixteen months after the March 2025 executive order, it's stuck in the plumbing. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reports the Trump administration can't agree on which agency should manage the stockpile. The Treasury Department and the Commerce Department are both making a claim.
A Turf War Instead of a Buying Program
The original division of labor was simple: Treasury custodies the coins, other agencies feed in seized bitcoin. Now, per Bloomberg, officials are questioning whether Treasury can even hold the assets permanently, given bitcoin's volatility. The White House all but confirmed the stall. Spokeswoman Liz Huston said the administration continues to evaluate the best structure for the reserve. No timeline was offered. For a project Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wanted moving before the summer recess, that's a thin update.
Two Bills, One Million Bitcoin
Two bills in Congress would write the reserve into law: the BITCOIN Act and the ARMA Act, introduced in May. Both direct the US to acquire up to 1 million BTC over five years. ARMA goes further, mandating a 20-year minimum hold with sales permitted only to pay down the national debt. The base already exists. Per Bitcoin Treasuries data, the US holds 328,372 BTC worth roughly $21 billion, most of it seized. But as long as nobody knows which department owns the mandate, nobody can execute a buying program of that size.
The Trade
Since March 2025, markets have priced the reserve as a structural bid: a buyer that never sells and adds on weakness. That catalyst just slipped indefinitely. Bitcoin is holding around the $60,000 mark, having steadied after Strategy's weekend sale, but without a Washington buy program the reserve narrative loses its strongest leg. The turf war doesn't kill the project. It does expose the gap between an executive order and an actual sovereign bid, a gap the market has been happy to ignore. Until Treasury or Commerce wins the mandate, the reserve remains what it has been for sixteen months: a pile of seized coins with a political label on it.