When requested concerning the U.S. authorities’s strategy to Bitcoin and up to date BTC seizures, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent re-affirmed that the administration will halt all gross sales of seized BTC and as an alternative add it to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).
On the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Bessent advised journalist Christine Lee that the initiative is a component of a bigger effort to convey digital-asset innovation onto U.S. soil whereas holding federal oversight of seized cryptocurrency
This sentiment comes from questions concerning the authorities’s dealing with of BTC seized from builders linked to Twister Money within the Southern District of New York in addition to the dealing with of bitcoin from Samourai Pockets builders.
Whereas Bessent declined to touch upon ongoing litigation, he emphasised that any seized BTC can be retained by the federal authorities after authorized damages are resolved, moderately than being bought at public sale as in prior years.
“This administration’s coverage is so as to add seized Bitcoin to our digital asset reserve,” Bessent mentioned, highlighting step one in implementing the SBR: stopping all gross sales.
The reserve, established below a March 2025 government order, treats Bitcoin as a long-term strategic asset, akin to gold or petroleum stockpiles.
Bessent additionally appeared to border the broader technique of this present innovation as a pro-innovation, pro-onshore.
The Treasury desires to make the U.S. the “greatest regulatory regime for digital property,” citing bipartisan laws such because the Genius Act, which codifies stablecoin guidelines on the federal stage.
The U.S. authorities says they didn’t promote any Samourai Pockets bitcoin
Final week, U.S. officers denied studies that BTC forfeited by Samourai Pockets builders had been bought, confirming the property will stay a part of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) below Govt Order 14233.
Patrick Witt of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Belongings acknowledged that the Division of Justice confirmed the 57.55 BTC, value roughly $6.3 million, has not and won’t be liquidated.
The clarification got here after earlier studies advised the U.S. Marshals Service could have transferred the BTC to Coinbase Prime, fueling hypothesis of a sale that might have violated the chief order.
Journalist Frank Corva reported that the U.S. Marshals Service seems to have despatched the 57.55 BTC forfeited by Samourai Pockets builders on to a Coinbase Prime handle, which confirmed a zero steadiness, suggesting the BTC could have already been bought.
If true, this promoting would contradict Govt Order 14233, which requires forfeited bitcoin to be held within the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve moderately than liquidated.