Treasury Secretary Confirms US to Acquire Bitcoin for Reserve via Budget-Neutral Tactics

After stating the U.S. government won’t buy bitcoin, the Treasury chief now clarifies plans to expand the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve using budget-neutral strategies that avoid new spending.

US Eyes Budget-Neutral Bitcoin Acquisition to Expand Strategic Reserve, Treasury Secretary Reveals

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took to social media platform X on Aug. 14 to clarify the U.S. government’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve plan after earlier stating that the government would not be purchasing bitcoin and would instead rely on confiscated digital assets.

“Bitcoin that has been finally forfeited to the federal government will be the foundation of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that President Trump established in his March Executive Order,” Bessent stated in his post. The Treasury Secretary added:

The clarification followed his appearance on Fox Business earlier the same day, when he said: “We’ve also started… a bitcoin strategic reserve. We’re not going to be buying that but we are going to use confiscated assets and continue to build that up. We’re going to stop selling that.” Bessent emphasized that the strategic reserve would be built from seized BTC holdings, which the government will stop selling.

This was not the first mention of Bessent’s reference to budget neutrality. President Donald Trump’s March 6 executive order, Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile, states: “The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce shall develop strategies for acquiring additional government BTC provided that such strategies are budget neutral and do not impose incremental costs on United States taxpayers.”

The shift in Bessent’s tone prompted swift reactions from cryptocurrency supporters. One accused the Trump administration of backtracking to influence market sentiment, citing Bessent’s earlier remark that the U.S. government would not be buying more BTC, followed by a tweet saying they would continue to explore budget-neutral ways. He opined: “Someone in the administration or a major donor clearly whispered in his ear after that interview to soften the market blow.” Another pushed for a more direct approach: “Confiscation is not the way. Just buy some bitcoin/hard money with dollars you can print. It’s cleaner.”

Many people believe that the U.S. government will buy BTC at some point in the future. One user noted: “They also didn’t rule out budget neutral buys in the future. That could mean selling some gold, using Fed surpluses, or swapping out other assets to stack BTC without ‘new spending.'” Samson Mow also believes that purchasing will take place. “There will be buying. There are a number of ‘budget neutral’ ways to acquire bitcoin such as issuing bitcoin bonds or selling gold. Give it some time,” he previously detailed. Proponents argue that using seized assets avoids new spending while still positioning the U.S. as a contender in global bitcoin policy.