In a November 11, 2026 report, Golden Finance recounted comments by Patrick Witt, former executive director of the White House Crypto Council, from an interview on the What Bitcoin Did podcast. The video was published on November 10. Witt said the interview itself was recorded before the U.S. midterm elections.
Witt said President Trump is interested in the U.S. government acquiring Bitcoin and that officials had already held extensive internal discussions about how that might be done. He said the legality of buying directly in the open market is doubtful. In his account, a purchase the government could be confident was lawful would need authorization from Congress. The administration’s stance, he said, has therefore been to press for legislation that would write a strategic Bitcoin reserve into law. With Congress divided, he added, passing a standalone bill would be very difficult.
Witt said routes the Treasury has discussed include revaluing gold reserves, using the Exchange Stabilization Fund, converting other assets already on the balance sheet into Bitcoin, and collecting taxes and fees in Bitcoin. He said each of those options would still require further legal analysis, and that whether any of them advances ultimately depends on whether Treasury Secretary Bessent is willing to pursue it.
On Bitcoin already held by government agencies, Witt said earlier audits produced uneven results. A second round of verification is under way to improve the precision of the figures, and a decision on whether to publish specific holding amounts has not yet been made. He described previous custody practices across agencies as “unbelievable,” saying some cold wallets had been kept in drawers and that Bitcoin held by the U.S. Marshals Service had once been stolen by a contractor’s son. He said the Treasury is building a custody system that may combine self-custody with third-party custody.
Witt also said that, to his knowledge, no one will succeed him as executive director of the White House Crypto Council. Related duties, he said, are expected to be shared by offices including the White House Office of Legislative Affairs and the White House Counsel’s Office.
Original report: https://jinse.com.cn/lives/540498.html
