The U.S. Department of the Treasury officially incorporates confiscated Bitcoin into the national strategic reserve

On January 21, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, announced during the World Economic Forum in Davos that the U.S. government will cease selling confiscated digital assets and will transfer all Bitcoin currently held by the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department into the “U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.” Under this policy, Bitcoin primarily obtained through criminal and civil asset forfeitures will be kept permanently and will no longer be periodically auctioned by the U.S. Marshals Service. Yellen stated that this move aims to “prevent the loss of sovereign digital wealth” and considers the more than 200,000 Bitcoin currently held by the U.S. as a long-term value reserve on the national balance sheet to hedge against traditional currency fluctuations. She also emphasized that the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will expand through law enforcement confiscations in a “budget-neutral” manner, without using taxpayer funds for open market purchases. The assets will be managed by the Federal Reserve and, unless in extreme national economic emergencies, will not be sold or transferred. Analysts believe this decision marks the first time in policy that Bitcoin has been elevated to a strategic asset status close to gold, potentially weakening the long-standing “government selling pressure” and setting a precedent for digital asset policies among major global economies.