Bitget Chief Executive Officer Gracy Chen has expressed strong skepticism that the United States government will actively purchase Bitcoin on the open market to expand its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve before the end of President Donald Trump’s current term.
In a recent interview, Chen described such acquisitions as improbable from a policy standpoint, saying she does not expect them to materialize within the next two years.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was formalized through an executive order signed on March 6, 2025.
That directive primarily capitalizes the reserve with Bitcoin federal authorities already obtained through criminal and civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
It does not authorize using taxpayer funds for market purchases.
Instead, any additional acquisitions must follow budget-neutral approaches that impose no extra costs on American taxpayers.
The order also generally prohibits selling Bitcoin held in the reserve, creating a one-way mechanism where seized assets can enter but do not routinely exit through auctions or liquidations.
Public estimates place current US government Bitcoin holdings associated with the reserve in the range of roughly 198,000 to over 300,000 BTC, depending on the tracker used, stemming largely from law enforcement actions rather than deliberate sovereign accumulation.
Before the order, authorities sold substantial quantities of forfeited Bitcoin; the new framework ends that practice for assets designated for the reserve.
Chen’s assessment aligns with the practical constraints of the current setup.
Actively purchasing Bitcoin, she noted, would represent a significantly larger policy decision requiring extensive debate among lawmakers, political parties, and other stakeholders—far beyond simply retaining assets already under government control.
While the administration has maintained a relatively crypto-friendly stance, turning the reserve into an active buying program is not straightforward.
This structure means the reserve functions more as a long-term holding vehicle for existing government-controlled Bitcoin than as an active accumulation program.
The no-sale provision removes a potential source of future supply pressure on the market, which could offer some stability.
However, it does not create the ongoing demand that scheduled government purchases might.
Chen also indicated that if the US did begin accumulating Bitcoin, the impact could be substantial and not fully priced in, potentially driving prices higher as other jurisdictions and US states take notice.
Yet she maintains that, based on policy realities observed over the past year, such a move remains unlikely under the current framework through at least the next couple of years.
For market participants, the takeaway is tempered expectations: the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve solidifies the government’s role as a long-term holder of forfeited coins but is unlikely to emerge as a major buyer in the foreseeable future. Further developments would hinge on successfully identifying truly budget-neutral methods or on new congressional action.