The U.S. Treasury Department held meetings this week with top executives from three crypto custody firms to discuss safeguarding the country’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, sources familiar with the matter told Decrypt. Anchorage Digital was one such custodian that met with Treasury Department officials on Monday, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
When asked about the meeting, Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley told Decryptthat government officials asked him detailed questions about best practices for custody of a national Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile. McCauley said the officials also inquired about how custody could impact stablecoins and market structure, two hot-button topics currently before Congress.
“The Treasury Department is asking all the right questions,” the Anchorage CEO told Decrypt. “It’s clear that Treasury officials are treating this move into the digital asset space with care, recognizing that the United States is quite literally writing history.” A Capitol Hill source with knowledge of the meetings told Decrypt the Treasury Department is in the early stages of figuring out how best to tackle questions of security involved in the U.S. government indefinitely holding billions of dollars worth of digital assets.
“I don’t think they have a view yet, and they’re trying to figure out what their view is going to be,” they said. “But they are actively seeking additional information from industry participants on the best way to custody the strategic reserve and the stockpile.” The source elaborated that key decision makers in the industry appear to be in favor of one or multiple third parties assisting with custody of the U.S. government’s Bitcoin reserve in the interim, with the long-term goal of the government eventually self-custody when ready. Self custody refers to the practice of independently holding crypto in cold wallets accessed with private keys, as opposed to relying on third parties to manage the assets.
