Scott Bessent confirmed the U.S. will only grow its Bitcoin reserve through confiscations, not purchases

The U.S. government will not be purchasing Bitcoin, but it’s not backing away from building a crypto reserve.

Speaking Thursday on Fox Business, Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary under President Donald Trump, made it clear that the only way more Bitcoin will end up in federal hands is by taking it from others. “We’ve started a Bitcoin strategic reserve,” Scott said, “but we’re not buying any more of that.”

That statement landed right in the middle of a growing storm over how much Bitcoin the government actually has. And that’s political ammo.

According to The Rage, who first raised doubts in mid-July, the U.S. might only hold around 29,000 Bitcoin, way below the 200,000 BTC number that’s been thrown around by Trump’s crypto czar, David Sacks. That set off Senator Cynthia Lummis, who called it a disaster. “If true, this is a total strategic blunder,” she wrote on X.

Scrutiny deepens as officials backtrack and exit

David never backed his 200,000 BTC claim with receipts. There’s still no public audit. The number that’s floating in public now comes from Bitcoin Treasuries, which puts the U.S. government’s holdings at over 198,000 Bitcoin, estimated to be worth about $23 billion.

But even that number isn’t clean, it bundles forfeited BTC, which is fully owned by the government, with seized BTC, which could legally be returned to cybercrime victims. That confusion just cost someone their job.

On Tuesday, Bo Hines, Trump’s White House crypto advisor, stepped down. His resignation came as pressure mounted over the unclear size of the U.S. Bitcoin reserve. Bo didn’t comment publicly, but his exit is being read as a fallout from the internal chaos about the crypto count.

Scott wasn’t done talking. He also used his Fox appearance to push back on suggestions he’s calling for interest rate cuts. “I didn’t tell the Fed what to do,” he said. What he did say was that to hit what models define as a neutral rate, the Fed would have to slash rates by about 1.5 percentage points. That would translate into a 150-basis-point cut from current levels.

He told Bloomberg on Wednesday that a 50-basis-point cut could come as soon as September. “If you look at any model,” he said, “we should probably be 150 to 175 basis points lower.” Scott added that the first cuts could have already happened back in June and July.

Right now, futures markets show a possible drop to 3% next year, while the Fed’s current midpoint sits around 4.38%. Meanwhile, two-year Treasury yields are higher, sitting at 3.68%, which makes Scott’s idea even more aggressive than what Wall Street is currently betting on.

Trump eyes Fed replacements as Powell’s term nears end

Scott also dropped new details on Trump’s plan for the Federal Reserve. With Jerome Powell’s term as Fed Chair ending in May, the administration is going through names. “We’re working on the big list right now,” Scott said, and hinted that two new names would be made public by Wednesday.

CNBC reported that Trump is considering people like David Zervos, a market strategist from Jefferies; Rick Rieder, who runs global fixed income at BlackRock; and former Fed board member Larry Lindsey. These people have all been vocal about monetary policy in the past.

As for Stephen Miran, Trump’s current nominee to fill the Fed’s vacant seat, Scott said he’s not expected to stick around after January, when his short term ends. A new 14-year term opens then, and Scott made it sound like Trump will nominate someone else.

The Fed leadership shuffle is complicated. If Powell decides to stay on the board as a governor, which he can legally do until 2028, then replacing him as Chair won’t be simple. That job would have to go to someone already on the board, or whoever fills the January opening. Scott didn’t say how that puzzle would be solved, but his comments confirmed that the planning is already underway.

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