Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent began Thursday by dashing the hopes of at least some bitcoiners, saying the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve would be made up of the $15 billion to $20 billion already held by the government, but that there was no intention of making any fresh purchases.
He ended the day, however, by seemingly contradicting those remarks, saying his department is “committed to exploring budget-neutral pathways to acquire more Bitcoin to expand the reserve.”
The fresh buys would be in addition to tokens forfeited to the government, which will be the “foundation” of the reserve, Bessent said.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March to create a strategic bitcoin reserve which Bessent has advocated for. Earlier this month, Bo Hines, the leader of the White House’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets — whose tasks, among other things, included the SBR — exited his position.
Bitcoin (BTC) continued to trade at about $118,000 late in the U.S. afternoon Thursday, down sharply since hitting a new record high of $124,000 just hours earlier.
The bulk of the decline came after a far stronger than anticipated Producer Price Index report, which called into question the idea that inflation is receding enough for the Federal Reserve to trim interest rates in September.