President Donald Trump remains interested in having the U.S. government buy bitcoin, according to David Witt, who stepped down as executive director of the White House crypto council in October. Witt said on the What Bitcoin Did podcast that there has been a lot of discussion about how that might work, though he did not describe a finished plan.
Interest Is Not Authority
A March 2025 executive order set up the reserve using bitcoin the government had already seized. It also directed Treasury and Commerce to look for acquisition methods that were “budget neutral.” That language matters: so far, no such method has been made public, and there has been no announced open-market purchase. The order created a structure, but it did not hand the White House clear buying authority.
The Legal Wall
Witt was direct about the main problem. He said outright open-market purchases are of “questionable legality” because Congress controls federal spending. Lawmakers have already acted, too. According to Witt, concerns about purchases led Congress to add a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) stating the government cannot do this. He said the goal now is to reach a place where the authority is granted, but that is a legislative fight, not a simple policy tweak.
Making the reserve permanent looks harder still. Witt said passing a standalone bill would be “incredibly difficult” with a divided Congress, and he struggled to imagine Democrats supporting such a measure. Without legislation, the reserve rests on executive orders that a future president could reverse. He warned that repealing a predecessor’s orders is often one of the first things a new administration does.
Politics And Prices
The interview came days after the Nov. 3 midterms, where Democrats won both chambers. Galaxy Research has flagged new risks for the industry, and Bitcoin.com News reported that Elizabeth Warren is set to chair the Senate Banking Committee. The White House has also been reviewing SEC crypto rules after the vote, while the CLARITY Act is stalled in the Senate. Not everyone has given up: Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor linked wins from both parties to bitcoin reserves after the election, arguing support for sovereign bitcoin holdings goes beyond party lines.
Bitcoin traders are listening because any sign that Washington could become a buyer would be a major catalyst. The asset traded near $73,600 on Nov. 11 after falling to $72,787 on a hotter-than-expected U.S. CPI print, which pushed rate markets toward pricing in a December Fed hike. Other things to watch include Treasury guidance on budget-neutral acquisition methods, the fate of the NDAA rider in the next defense bill, and whether a lame-duck Congress takes up digital asset legislation before Democrats take control in January. Interesting times, to say the least.
