A dispute between the Treasury and Commerce departments over who should oversee the proposed US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has delayed its rollout more than a year after President 
Donald Trump ordered its creation, per Bitcoin Magazine via Bloomberg. Per Cointelegraph, the report follows May comments from White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, who framed the administration as examining the legal implications of creating a Bitcoin reserve. Per The Block, the reserve was established by executive order in March 2025 and treats Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset comparable to how the country holds gold, with the order directing that coins placed in the reserve are not to be sold.
What is the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve? A government-held stockpile of Bitcoin established by Trump's executive order in March 2025. The order treats Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset comparable to gold.
What's the Treasury-vs-Commerce dispute? The two departments are vying for control of the reserve. The interagency dispute has stalled the rollout for over 15 months. Historically sovereign reserve assets fall under Treasury — but the executive-order design left the operational-custody question open.
When was the executive order signed? March 2025. Over 15 months have elapsed between signing and the current stalled state.
What's the "not to be sold" directive? The order directs that coins placed in the reserve are not to be sold. The never-sell posture matches the gold-reserve comparison.
Where would the Bitcoin come from? Almost all of the US government's Bitcoin was seized in criminal investigations and civil forfeitures. The reserve would consolidate the existing stockpile into a formal-reserve architecture.
What did Patrick Witt say? The White House crypto adviser in May framed the administration as examining the legal implications of creating a Bitcoin reserve. The May signalling matched the current stalled state.
Why does this matter politically? The reserve was one of Trump's headline crypto-industry deliverables. The crypto industry has tracked the rollout as a substantive indicator of administration crypto-policy execution.
How does this fit the $1.4B family-crypto framing? The stall pairs with the ongoing family-crypto-income disclosure fallout to compound crypto-policy-execution concerns.
What's next? Interagency resolution or presidential reassignment of oversight authority will define whether the reserve rolls out through 2026.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
