Uncle Sam's $BTC piggy bank has three federal parents fighting over who gets the keys 🔑

A planned US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has stalled as the Commerce and Treasury departments spar over which agency should oversee the government's digital asset holdings, Bloomberg reported Monday. The disagreement centers on whether Treasury possesses the legal authority to manage Bitcoin ($BTC) given its volatility, according to people familiar with the matter. The Department of Justice is working with both departments to determine legally available options.

President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order directed that the reserve be housed inside the Treasury Department, with other agencies assisting in asset seizures to build the stockpile. Commerce has since emerged as a competing candidate for primary oversight, the people said. White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Cointelegraph that "the Trump administration continues to evaluate the best structure for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and US Digital Asset Stockpile."

The United States currently holds 328,372 Bitcoin valued at $21.1 billion, more than any other nation, though portions have been liquidated through court-ordered sales over the years. Senators have advanced two bills, the BITCOIN Act and the ARMA Act, both introduced in May, which aim to acquire 1 million Bitcoin over five years using budget-neutral strategies. Patrick Witt, one of the White House's top crypto advisers, has described ARMA as "Version 2" of the BITCOIN Act and said the administration has spent significant time examining the legal implications. Under ARMA, Bitcoin must be held for at least 20 years unless sold to reduce the national debt, which is approaching $40 trillion.

Fifteen nation-states hold Bitcoin, but El Salvador remains the only country to have formally established a Bitcoin reserve and continues making routine purchases. The reserve is central to Trump's pledge to position the United States as the "crypto capital of the world," reframing Bitcoin as a strategic asset rather than a seized commodity. Industry advocates say the move could reshape how governments treat digital assets, with Tim Kotzman, host of the Bitcoin Treasuries Podcast, calling it "validates an entirely new category of capital allocation" as public companies led and nation-states now follow.