U.S. Treasury Met With Three Crypto Firms to Decide Custody of Bitcoin Reserve

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.