• Then-candidate Donald Trump promised to stop selling seized bitcoin back in July.

• Experts tell CoinDesk that the incoming president might need help from Congress to establish a proper strategic reserve.

• While Republicans will soon have majorities in Congress, spinning up a bitcoin reserve won’t be high on their list of priorities.

Will the U.S. government actually establish a bitcoin {{BTC}} reserve? It seems to depend on the definition of “reserve” you use.

Would the government simply stop selling the bitcoin in its possession, as former President and now President-elect Donald Trump promised in his Nashville speech this summer? Or would it actively purchase bitcoin, as per the wishes of Senator Cynthia Lummis and Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy?

The government currently holds 208,109 bitcoin — worth over $19 billion — per Arkham Intelligence. That stockpile was acquired over time through confiscations related to criminal activities. Historically, the government has sold this seized bitcoin in auctions, but Trump announced in July that under his administration, the government would keep 100% of all the bitcoin it currently holds or acquires in the future.

It might sound like a simple policy, but there isn’t any established method to implement it, and the procedure would likely involve the coordination of various government agencies like the Department of Justice, the U.S. Marshals Services and the U.S. Treasury.

“We don't have anything in writing, right? We’re just kind of going by a speech that was rather generic,” Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of crypto advocacy group The Digital Chamber, told CoinDesk. “Can you just move money between the federal agencies like that? I don't know.”

“If you're moving [bitcoin] out of the Department of Justice to the Treasury, and it's like a strategic Bitcoin stockpile fund, that likely requires an act of Congress,” Boring added. “But again, I don't know exactly how much [Trump] can do with his executive powers.”

Moish Peltz, a partner at Falcon, Rappaport and Berkman, told CoinDesk that the rules surrounding seized bitcoin might change on a department-by-department basis and vary depending on how the bitcoin was seized in the first place. “Some portion of the seized bitcoin might need an act of Congress, but not necessarily,” he said.

Moreover, the process could be gradual. “[The government’s] existing experience with the seizure and custody of large amounts of Bitcoin demonstrates competency and makes it easy to imagine from a technical perspective a relatively low level of difficulty in establishing a strategic reserve,” Peltz said. “Over time, this could evolve into a more significant stance as regulatory clarity improves, legislation is enacted (and implemented), and the government develops a more comprehensive digital asset strategy.”