The U.S. government is reported to have cleared key legal barriers to establish a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve. Analysts say the focus is shifting from large-scale new buying expected by the market to building a system to securely store and manage seized bitcoin already held.

CoinPost, a blockchain media outlet, reported on May 19 that Patrick Witt, executive director of the Digital Assets Advisory Council Secretariat under the Trump administration, said the U.S. government has cleared legal hurdles to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve and has completed building related custody infrastructure. He also said an official announcement is imminent.

The core of the progress lies in how the U.S. government will store and maintain a large amount of bitcoin it already has. The U.S. government is known to hold about 328,372 BTC, about 1.6 percent of total bitcoin supply, through past criminal investigations and asset seizures.

An executive order signed in March 2025 banned the sale of government-held bitcoin, and work to refine related systems has proceeded within the administration since then. The remarks suggest reserve discussions are moving beyond a declaration stage to building an actual operating system.

The most urgent task in the process has emerged as security. After some cryptocurrency under an existing management system of the U.S. Marshals Service was leaked, concerns were raised that the current system alone is insufficient. About $70 million in digital assets is known to have been illicitly leaked between 2024 and 2025, increasing the need within the government for a dedicated cryptographic key management system and a separate custody structure.

Some also say it is far from the government-led, active bitcoin buying the market expected. The direction disclosed so far is closer to storing and maintaining existing seized assets than to new purchases. Witt also referred to similar progress at events including the 'Bitcoin 2026 Conference' held in April, but did not disclose any specific purchase plan.

Discussions in the federal Congress have also failed to pick up speed. A bill has been introduced that would allow the U.S. government to buy 200,000 BTC annually, but many see the chances of passage as low due to differences within the political establishment.

For this reason, any official announcement is also likely to focus on how to manage and store existing holdings within the national asset system, rather than a policy of buying new bitcoin. Analysts also say the potential to create direct buying pressure on the market is limited, as the basic line is being presented as building a neutral asset management system without additional budget spending.

The industry sees the move as meaningful groundwork for the U.S. government to bring bitcoin into the institutional asset system in earnest. Still, assessments say that, contrary to market expectations, large-scale new buying is unlikely to materialise in the short term.