The US says it has a Bitcoin reserve, but nobody can agree on how much it owns

On March 6, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and most of the attention went straight to the grand idea: America had built a digital Fort Knox, the government would stop selling Bitcoin, and Washington could perhaps add more without charging taxpayers.However, the executive order’s operative language was less glamorous but contained several important details that would determine whether the Strategic Reserve succeeded.Every federal agency had 30 days to give Treasury a full accounting of its digital assets, identify the custodial accounts holding them, and review whether eligible Bitcoin could legally be transferred into the reserve. Treasury had 60 days to evaluate where the reserve accounts should actually be, how they should be managed, and whether Congress needed to authorize any part of the operation.Bitcoin deposited into the reserve generally wasn’t to be sold, though the order preserved exceptions for court rulings, victim restitution, law-enforcement use, and a few other statutory obligations.The scope and detail of the executive order showed that the White House wasn't simply riding the crypto wave or announcing...