The largest known sovereign Bitcoin holder is finally building a real vault. ~328,000 BTC, all from forfeitures, no open market buys. The White House confirmed this week that the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is being actively structured two years after the executive order put the policy on paper.
ARMA, the American Reserve Modernization Act introduced May 21, codifies the reserve at Treasury with quarterly Proof of Reserve reports and independent audits. The bill consolidates custody across federal agencies under Treasury oversight and runs alongside the no sale policy already in the March 2025 executive order. Patrick Witt's team is driving the structural work ahead of late 2026 NDAA codification.
The operational urgency dates to last year's USMS custody theft. The son of a US Marshals Service contractor, John Daghita, allegedly stole more than $46 million in crypto from federal custody accounts. The FBI arrest came in March 2026. Fragmented custody across agencies was operationally brittle. The reserve's structural work is upstream of any new Bitcoin buys.
When the largest sovereign holder formalises custody at this scale, what does the protocol level Bitcoin rail question move toward, institutionalisation that anchors the network, or institutionalisation that creates a single point of state failure?
ARMA, the American Reserve Modernization Act introduced May 21, codifies the reserve at Treasury with quarterly Proof of Reserve reports and independent audits. The bill consolidates custody across federal agencies under Treasury oversight and runs alongside the no sale policy already in the March 2025 executive order. Patrick Witt's team is driving the structural work ahead of late 2026 NDAA codification.
The operational urgency dates to last year's USMS custody theft. The son of a US Marshals Service contractor, John Daghita, allegedly stole more than $46 million in crypto from federal custody accounts. The FBI arrest came in March 2026. Fragmented custody across agencies was operationally brittle. The reserve's structural work is upstream of any new Bitcoin buys.
When the largest sovereign holder formalises custody at this scale, what does the protocol level Bitcoin rail question move toward, institutionalisation that anchors the network, or institutionalisation that creates a single point of state failure?
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