U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent definitively stated on Thursday that the federal government will not purchase additional Bitcoin, contradicting months of speculation from White House officials. Bessent emphasized during a Fox Business interview that while the U.S. will maintain its strategic Bitcoin reserve—established via a March executive order by President Donald Trump—it will only grow through law enforcement seizures, not new acquisitions. 'We're not going to be buying that,' Bessent declared, adding that confiscated assets would be used to build reserves and that the government would halt sales of seized Bitcoin.
Bessent estimated current U.S. Bitcoin holdings at $15 billion to $20 billion, acquired solely through seizures. This stance reverses prior White House signals, including claims by Trump administration figures like crypto advisor David Sacks and Bo Hines, who had explored 'budget-neutral' purchase methods such as selling gold reserves or using tariff revenue. Officials had repeatedly vowed to 'acquire as much Bitcoin as possible,' fueling market optimism about institutional demand and potential price inflation.
Within hours of Bessent's remarks, Bitcoin plummeted below the critical $120,000 support level to $118,730, erasing gains from earlier in the day when BTC briefly surpassed Google's $2.4 trillion market cap to become the world's fifth-largest asset. The Treasury's position was further highlighted by its omission from a recent 168-page White House crypto policy report, signaling a clear policy shift away from state-backed accumulation.