The White House is preparing to release a new update on the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve within weeks, according to Patrick Witt, who leads the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets. Speaking at Consensus Miami, Witt said the administration has spent months auditing federal crypto holdings after President Donald Trump ordered agencies to stop selling bitcoin and review what the government already controls.
That review exposed custody problems across agencies. Witt said some cold wallets were reportedly being kept in desk drawers before the White House moved to centralize oversight. The point was blunt, and it framed the review as more than an accounting exercise.
Agencies are still separating forfeited assets from active case holdings
The process follows Trump’s March 2025 executive order creating the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile. Under that order, agencies were directed to halt sales of seized bitcoin and preserve forfeited holdings as reserve assets instead.
Witt said the government still needs a complete inventory before publishing detailed figures. Federal agencies are continuing to separate crypto that has already been forfeited from assets still tied to active legal proceedings. That means not every seized bitcoin can move into the reserve right away.
He also clarified that newly seized bitcoin does not automatically enter the reserve. If assets remain linked to unresolved court cases, they stay unavailable until forfeiture is complete and restitution obligations are finished.
Custody standards moved higher on the agenda after wallet security concerns
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Marshals Service had investigated a possible hack involving government-controlled crypto wallets. On-chain investigator ZachXBT said attackers stole more than $60 million in late 2025. Witt said the episode strengthened the case for tighter custody standards across federal agencies handling digital assets.
The administration is also reviewing legal questions around long-term custody authority. Those discussions have focused on whether agencies can retain bitcoin over time without facing a future congressional clawback.
Executive order set the structure, but Congress still controls permanence
Witt said the executive order created the reserve framework, but legislation is still needed to make it permanent. He pointed to Senator Cynthia Lummis’ BITCOIN Act and Representative Nick Begich’s American Reserves Modernization Act.
Under the current structure, the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the Digital Asset Stockpile are separate. Bitcoin goes into the reserve, while other seized cryptocurrencies are placed in the broader stockpile. The federal government has not disclosed its total bitcoin holdings, though estimates cited at Consensus Miami put the range between 198,000 BTC and 328,000 BTC. Witt said agencies are still reviewing operating procedures before the White House releases more details in the coming weeks.