tl;dr
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent initially stated the U.S. would not purchase Bitcoin for its strategic reserve but later left open the possibility of acquiring Bitcoin through budget-neutral means. The reserve, established by President Trump's executive order, is currently funded by Bitcoin forfeit...
Earlier Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the United States would not purchase Bitcoin for its planned strategic reserve. However, he later revised his stance, leaving the door open for potential Bitcoin acquisitions. Bessent wrote on X that Bitcoin forfeited to the federal government would form the foundation of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve established by President Trump in his March Executive Order. He added that the Treasury is committed to exploring budget-neutral ways to acquire more Bitcoin and fulfill the President’s goal of making the United States the “Bitcoin superpower of the world.”
Despite this, Bessent had told Fox Business earlier that day that the government would not be buying Bitcoin for the reserve, contradicting earlier statements from the Trump administration. He indicated that the U.S. currently holds between $15 billion and $20 billion worth of Bitcoin in its strategic reserve, but only intends to hold seized funds rather than actively purchase additional Bitcoin. This back-and-forth caused some outrage within the crypto community, with critics accusing the Washington crypto lobby of misinformation regarding the administration’s crypto plans.
Bitcoin’s price barely moved following Bessent’s comments, trading near $118,000 on Thursday afternoon. The cryptocurrency experienced a 3.9% decline over the past 24 hours, falling from a record high above $124,000 the previous day. The Trump administration’s approach to crypto has changed multiple times; initially, Trump floated building a Bitcoin stockpile on the campaign trail, later broadening the initiative to include other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Cardano. Ultimately, Trump’s executive orders led to a strategic Bitcoin reserve distinct from a digital asset stockpile containing other cryptocurrencies.
White House Crypto Czar David Sacks remarked in March that it was up to Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to determine whether there are budget-neutral options to expand the Bitcoin reserve, but so far, there have been no specific details provided by either official.