U.S. Treasury Confirms Bitcoin Reserve Will Rely on Seized Assets, Not Purchases

Speaking on Fox Business Thursday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the U.S. government has no plans to acquire additional Bitcoin for President Trump’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Instead, the reserve, currently estimated to hold between $15 billion and $20 billion worth of the cryptocurrency – will grow only through future seizures.

Bessent framed the reserve as part of bringing U.S. financial strategy “into the 21st century” but made clear that taxpayer-funded Bitcoin purchases are off the table. “We’re not going to be buying that,” he told host Maria Bartiromo. “We are going to use confiscated assets and continue to build that up. We’re going to stop selling that.”

Under this approach, law enforcement seizures from criminal cases or regulatory actions would bolster the reserve over time, while current holdings remain untouched.

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Bessent also addressed a separate question on the nation’s gold stockpile — 261.5 million ounces — which is officially valued at about $11 billion using a price set in 1973. At current market levels, that gold would be worth roughly $750 billion, but Bessent said he does not expect the government to update the official valuation. Like the Bitcoin reserve, he noted, the gold holdings will continue to serve as a long-term store of value.