August 15, 2025
5 min read
Brayden Lindrea
US Treasury’s Scott Bessent Clarifies: Bitcoin Buying Still Possible via Budget-Neutral Strategies
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified on X that the department is still exploring budget-neutral ways to purchase Bitcoin for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. This statement contrasts with his earlier comment that suggested the department would not buy any Bitcoin, a remark that triggered a significant sell-off in the crypto markets. “Treasury is committed to exploring budget-neutral pathways to acquire more Bitcoin to expand the reserve, and to execute on the President’s promise to make the United States the ‘Bitcoin superpower of the world,’” Bessent wrote on X on Thursday. He emphasized that the Bitcoin forfeited to the federal government would form the foundation of the reserve.Concerns Over Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Progress
There have been concerns that the US’s slow pace in executing its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve could leave it vulnerable to being front-run by other nation-states. Some in the crypto community feared the Treasury might not follow through on the strategy. Earlier on the same day, Bessent’s comments to FOX Business were widely interpreted to mean the Treasury was not looking to buy Bitcoin: “We’ve also started to get into the 21st century, a Bitcoin reserve. We’re not going to be buying that, but we are going to use confiscated assets and continue to build that up,” he said. These remarks wiped nearly $55 billion off Bitcoin’s market cap within 40 minutes, with Bitcoin’s price falling from $121,073 to $118,886, according to CoinGecko data. Despite the clarification, Bitcoin was trading around $118,500 at the time of writing.Calls for Action from the Bitcoin Community
While Bessent’s clarification reassured some Bitcoin enthusiasts, others remain skeptical about the Treasury Department’s commitment to executing the plan: “Are you seriously still ‘exploring budget-neutral pathways’? At some point, exploration without execution starts to look like avoidance,” said Eli Nagar, CEO of Bitcoin mining firm Braiins, on X. “Come on, get moving!” El Salvador Bitcoin adviser Max Keiser also ridiculed Bessent’s use of the term “exploring.”Background on the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Budget-Neutral Strategies
On March 6, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing both a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile. These initiatives would initially use crypto forfeited in government criminal cases. The order also opened the door for additional Bitcoin purchases through “budget-neutral” strategies that do not impose incremental costs on U.S. taxpayers. However, no major developments on executing these strategies were shared in the Digital Asset Working Group’s recent crypto report. Among the budget-neutral strategies discussed are the reevaluation of the Treasury’s gold certificates and tariff revenue. One reason for the slow progress may be that the Treasury requires congressional approval to purchase Bitcoin in a budget-neutral manner. U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis highlighted this point and called on Congress to examine the BITCOIN Act she introduced in March.Treasury to Halt Bitcoin Sales
While no new Bitcoin purchases have been made, Bessent confirmed that the U.S. government does not plan to sell its existing Bitcoin holdings: “We’re going to stop selling,” he told FOX Business, adding that he believes the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is currently valued “somewhere between $15 billion and $20 billion.” This estimate aligns closely with BitBo’s Bitcoin Treasuries dashboard, which reports that the U.S. holds approximately 198,012 Bitcoin worth around $23.5 billion.Source: US Treasury still exploring budget-neutral Bitcoin buys, secretary says on August 15, 2025