Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained that the US will not buy Bitcoin from the public budget, but they will gather it through confiscats. This information, coinciding with the data on USD inflation, led to a decrease in the Bitcoin course from the just broken ATH around USD 118,000.
Strategic Bitcoin USA reserve – what does it really mean?
On August 14, 2025, the Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent clarified the position of Trump’s administration on the Bitcoin strategic reserve during an interview for Fox Business. Bessent said that the government would “not buy” additional bitcoins, but will “use confiscated assets and continue their accumulation” while committing to “stop selling” existing resources.
Besenta’s statements caused a violent reaction of the cryptocurrency market. Despite the later explanations that the Treasury Department “undertakes to explore the budget and neutral paths to obtain more Bitcoin”, the course remained at reduced levels.
The genesis and assumptions of the American reserve
On March 6, 2025, President Trump signed an executive regulation establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve as a permanent reserve asset, financed from bitcoins confiscated by the treasure as part of criminal or civil proceedings. The US has undertaken not to sell these coins and can develop tax neutral strategies to obtain more bitcoin.
According to estimates, American cryptocurrency reserves will include over USD 21 billion in cryptocurrencies together. The current US government resources in Bitcoin are valued at USD 15-20 billion. The genesis of funds is mainly confiscation of criminal surgery, including from Silk Road operations and recovered measures from Hack Bitfinex.
Market reaction and a broader context of declines
Thursday comments from the Besent coincided with the publication of producer inflation data (PPI), which proved to be higher than expectations. The US Labor Statistics Office has published a report on the manufacturer’s price index for July 2025, revealing the sharpest increase in wholesale prices for over two years. The hotter ones than expected inflation reads immediately reset the Wall Street plants to interest rates, caused an increase in the profitability of treasury bonds and strengthened the dollar.
Data from Coumingss show that long positions have suffered the most, with traders losing USD 803.22 million in the last 24 hours. Short positions also recorded losses of a total of USD 237.89 million.
Implications and opinion of analysts
In addition to market unrest, the Secretary of the US Treasury Scott Bessent said this week that the federal government would not buy Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to its reserves. The statement was made during a press briefing, where Bessent answered questions about the diversification of the US reserves portfolio.
According to analysts, a traditional four -year Bitcoin price cycle can break or even completely disappear. The growing market maturity, accumulation by long-term investors on record levels and suppressed volatility cause that the traditional 4-year rhythm is replaced by more sensitive to liquidity, correlated from macro behavior.
Summary
The latest events around the American Bitcoin strategic reserve show the complexity of introducing cryptocurrencies to official state reserves. Although Trump’s administration is generally favorable to the crypto sector, the practical aspects of implementation turn out to be more conservative than originally expected by part of the crypto community.
The next weeks will be crucial for the market direction, attention focused on inflation data for August and further statements of the federal reserve.
