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.