White House: The U.S. Lost $17 Billion in Bitcoin Sales—Trump Vows Never to Sell

The White House reported a $17 billion loss from early bitcoin sales. In response, Trump has set up a strategic bitcoin reserve fund with a "never sell" policy to increase U.S. BTC holdings. The U.S. sold off 195,000 Bitcoins too soon—the White House said it cost taxpayers $17 billion The White House has stated that previous US government bitcoin sales have cost taxpayers more than $17 billion. The disclosure was outlined in a White House fact sheet released on March 6, detailing the formation of a strategic bitcoin reserve fund, established through President Donald Trump's executive order. The document states: "The early sale of bitcoin cost taxpayers in the United States more than $17 billion." White House AI and crypto mogul David Sacks also highlighted this issue in a post on social media platform X on March 6. He wrote: Over the past decade, the federal government has sold about 195,000 bitcoins for $366 million in proceeds. If the government held bitcoin, it would be worth more than $17 billion today. That's how much U.S. taxpayers pay because there is no long-term strategy. Sacks explained that he obtained this information from Grok, X's AI chatbot, after querying the U.S. government's bitcoin sales history. His investigation sought specific details about when the sale was made, the amount involved, the revenue generated at the time, and how much the holdings would be worth at the present time if they had not been liquidated. The discussion surrounding the U.S. government's bitcoin strategy has sparked a debate about long-term crypto policies. With the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve fund, future governments can approach digital asset management in a different way. Speaking at the White House's first crypto summit on March 7, Trump criticized previous bitcoin sales, especially those conducted during the Biden administration. "Unfortunately, in recent years, the U.S. government has foolishly sold tens of thousands of bitcoins worth billions of dollars if they don't sell them," he said. But they sold them, mostly during the Biden administration—not a good thing to do." The President emphasized: From this day forward, America will follow a rule that every bitcoin player knows well: never sell your bitcoins.