Former White House Adviser: Trump Still Wants to Buy Bitcoin for US Strategic Reserve, but Faces Legal Hurdles

November 11: According to Bitcoin.com, former White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said that US President Donald Trump still intends to buy bitcoin for the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, but open-market purchases face legal issues. Witt said that because Congress controls federal spending, direct open-market purchases have "questionable legality," and Congress has added a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibiting such purchases.

The US government established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order in March 2025, with initial assets mainly drawn from bitcoin the government had previously seized. It also directed the Treasury and Commerce departments to explore budget-neutral ways to acquire more BTC, but it has not yet announced a specific plan or an open-market purchase program. Witt also said that making the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve permanent through standalone legislation would face great difficulty with a divided Congress. Without legislative support, the reserve still rests on an executive order, and a future president could revoke it through a new executive order.