At this point, all of the assets contemplated by the order would be those seized in civil or criminal forfeitures. The bitcoin will be stored for long-term value in what was termed a "digital Fort Knox."

"The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings," said David Sacks, Trump's crypto czar, in a statement posted on social media site X.

In a video showing the president signing the order, Trump says about establishing the reserve, "Made the promise, right?"

The order has also nudged government officials to seek ways to add more bitcoin to the reserve, as long as it doesn't harm the federal budget.

"The Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce are authorized to develop budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, provided that those strategies have no incremental costs on American taxpayers," Sacks said.

The assets for the non-bitcoin stockpile will be any crypto that the government otherwise seizes. Sacks didn't highlight any particular asset names in that category, despite some being recently named by the president.

Presidential orders don't necessarily have the same legal authority as acts of Congress, so it remains unclear how Trump's administration will approach the particulars of the order, which hadn't yet been made public Thursday night. It's also unclear what the total value of the current U.S. crypto holdings may be.

Market reaction

Bitcoin fell nearly 5% to $85,000 in the minutes following the order, perhaps over disappointment the reserve consists of tokens already held by the government, but — for now — includes no new buys.

Ethereum's (ETH), Ripple's (XRP), Cardano's (ADA), and Solana's (SOL) are all lower by 4%-8% over the past hour as the order allows for no fresh government purchases of those tokens.

The executive order announcement was made on the eve of the White House's industry summit, in which leaders from across the crypto spectrum are set to discuss policy matters with members of Trump's administration. The president had been expected to announce crypto reserve details before or during that event.