President Donald Trump did order a bitcoin reserve, but it doesn’t yet exist, even as the CNBC host says the feds will start filling it when bitcoin hits $60,000.
Feb 9, 2026, 4: 50 p.m.
President Donald Trump’s U.S. bitcoin BTC$70,698.12 reserve doesn’t exist yet, and there is no mechanism in the federal government for the wholesale purchase of crypto.
Keep that in mind when considering this weekend’s speculation about the price point that would cause the White House to push a buy button, thanks in large part to CNBC speculator Jim Cramer. There is no such button.
The president did order a “strategic reserve” established to hold bitcoin, but that didn’t make it spring into existence. The Treasury Department and crypto advisers spent months auditing the federal holdings of crypto (though White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt told CoinDesk last week that they still won’t share a number). But the process hit a snag: The advocates said they still need Congress to establish the stockpile under law.
The crypto sector’s new U.S. law for stablecoin issuers didn’t include it, nor does the sweeping crypto market structure bill currently grinding through the U.S. Senate. Clearing legislation through this Congress — even less controversial matters — is a tall order, and industry lobbyists are currently focused on the bill to finally establish market and oversight regulations for digital assets. A reserve may not even be second on the list of priorities, because crypto tax rules also beckon.
When Cramer suggested on-air that Trump has a plan, saying, “I heard at 60 he’s going to fill the bitcoin reserve,” the crypto markets took some notice. The struggling asset has recently dropped as low as $62,840 but spent some days hovering just under $70,000, and if the U.S. government stood ready to swoop in at $60,000, that could be a big deal. But the rumor isn’t supported by what’s going on with the federal fund.
For now, Trump’s executive order last year to set up the bitcoin reserve and a separate stockpile of other crypto assets waits to be fulfilled. And his order carefully rejected the idea of the government purchasing crypto with taxpayer money (which disappointed the industry at the time). Instead, he directed his administration to stop selling seized assets, so anything grabbed in civil or criminal cases is now allegedly being set aside for the future reserve.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the weekend specula