The United States announces the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, with 200,000 assets permanently retained.

【CoinPost】The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a major policy during the Davos Forum on January 20, 2026: the federal government will fundamentally change how it handles confiscated Bitcoin. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that all Bitcoin currently held by the Department of Justice and the Treasury will be incorporated into the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, to be permanently retained and no longer auctioned.

What does this mean? Previously, Bitcoin obtained through criminal and civil enforcement was regularly auctioned off by U.S. law enforcement agencies. Now, this approach has been completely reversed. Bessent explicitly stated that this is to prevent the outflow of sovereign digital wealth. The more than 200,000 Bitcoin currently held by the U.S. will be regarded as a long-term value reserve on the national balance sheet, used to hedge against traditional currency fluctuations.

Interestingly, this reserve expansion is budget-neutral—the government will not use taxpayers’ money to buy additional Bitcoin on the market. The newly acquired Bitcoin comes entirely from law enforcement seizures. The Federal Reserve will be responsible for custody of these assets, and unless there is an extreme national economic emergency, their sale or transfer is prohibited.

Industry experts generally believe this is the first time in U.S. policy that Bitcoin has been elevated to a strategic asset position close to gold. The long-standing selling pressure from the government may significantly weaken, and this shift in attitude is likely to set an example for digital asset policies in other major economies worldwide.