November 11, 2026. TechFlow Post, citing Bitcoin.com News, reported comments from former White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt. Witt said President Trump still intends to buy Bitcoin for the U.S. strategic Bitcoin reserve. He also said open-market purchases face serious legal problems.
The remarks were made on the What Bitcoin Did podcast. Witt said the president is interested and that the subject has drawn substantial discussion.
The sequence starts earlier. A March 2025 executive order created the reserve by pooling Bitcoin the government had already seized. It directed the Treasury and Commerce departments to look for “budget-neutral” acquisition strategies. The November 11, 2026 report said no such strategy had been made public and that no open-market purchases had been announced.
Witt located the constraint in Congress’s control of federal spending. He described direct open-market buying as of “questionable legality.” He said concern about purchases prompted Congress to add provisions to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) stating that this must not be done. He added that efforts are underway to obtain permission and authorization.
Durability is a separate question from stated interest. Witt said making the reserve permanent is more difficult. Passing a standalone bill in a divided Congress would be extremely hard. Without legislation, the reserve depends on the executive order, which a future president could revoke.
The report records interest, an existing seizure-based reserve, an unpublished budget-neutral strategy, and stated legal obstacles. It does not show that open-market purchases have been authorized or carried out.
Original article: TechFlow Post, November 11, 2026.
