U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, marking a significant policy shift in how the government handles digital assets. The announcement was made by David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto czar, on Thursday evening. The reserve will be built using Bitcoin that has been seized through criminal and civil asset forfeitures, with the government currently holding approximately 200,000 Bitcoins valued at $17.3 billion (about R314.9 billion). Unlike previous practices, where confiscated Bitcoin was sold on the open market, the government will now retain these holdings as a long-term store of value, similar to its approach to gold reserves. The executive order does not authorize new government purchases of Bitcoin, but it allows the Secretaries of Treasury and Commerce to explore "budget-neutral" strategies to acquire more, as long as taxpayer money is not used. Sacks also revealed that no full audit of the...