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ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood said the US government may soon begin purchasing bitcoin to add to a national strategic reserve created early in President Donald Trump’s second term.
Wood points to possible US bitcoin buying
Wood made the comments on a recent episode of the “Bitcoin Brainstorm” podcast.
She said the reserve has so far been funded with confiscated bitcoin seized through forfeiture, rather than new purchases.
Wood said:
“It seems as though there has been reticence about actually buying bitcoin for the strategy reserve.”
She added that the initial goal was far larger:
“The original intent was to own 1 million bitcoins, so I actually think they will start buying.”
Reserve order and ‘budget-neutral’ options
Trump’s executive order treated seized BTC as a strategic national asset and pledged not to sell it.
The order also tasked the Treasury and Commerce Departments with exploring “budget-neutral” strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin.
The White House working group chaired by David Sacks later recommended that both the bitcoin reserve and a broader digital-asset stockpile be administered by the Treasury and capitalized only by forfeited assets.
Politics and policy push
Wood argued bitcoin has become politically salient ahead of midterm elections:
“The most important one is that he doesn’t want to be a lame duck.”
Wood also said the administration will “make sure” it gets a de minimis tax exemption ruling to remove capital gains taxes on small bitcoin transactions.
Several states, including Florida and Texas, are also pursuing bitcoin reserve-style legislation.