As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified earlier than the Home Monetary Providers Committee Wednesday morning, Rep. Brad Sherman pressed Bessent over whether or not the U.S. authorities may ever step in to “bail out” bitcoin.
Bessent was presenting over the Monetary Stability Oversight Council’s annual report on rising financial dangers and far of the feedback and questions from the Council reference the Trump administration rising scrutiny over its financial agenda.
Throughout a tense alternate, Sherman referenced the 2008 monetary disaster and argued that bailouts have traditionally protected highly effective establishments when markets collapse.
He requested whether or not Treasury or federal monetary regulators may take comparable motion for bitcoin, together with directing banks to purchase BTC or altering banking guidelines to encourage crypto holdings.
Bessent rejected the premise outright. “I’m Secretary of the Treasury. I shouldn’t have the authority to try this,” he stated, including that neither the Treasury nor his position as chair of the Financial Stability Oversight Council offers energy to order banks to put money into BTC or to allocate public funds into crypto belongings.
Sherman tried to make clear whether or not taxpayer cash below Treasury administration may ever be deployed into BTC, however Bessent emphasised that the federal government’s present BTC publicity comes solely by means of regulation enforcement seizures, not funding choices.
“We’re retaining seized bitcoin,” Bessent stated. “That’s an asset of the U.S.,” he later stated.
Bessent then elaborated on that time, noting that retained bitcoin from previous seizures has appreciated considerably over time.
He cited an instance by which roughly $500 million in retained BTC later grew into greater than $15 billion in worth, underscoring bitcoin’s potential upside at the same time as policymakers stay skeptical of direct authorities involvement.
The alternate ended when the chair minimize Sherman off after his allotted time expired.
Bessent: U.S. will cease promoting bitcoin
Earlier this 12 months, Bessent stated the U.S. authorities’s stance is to cease promoting seized BTC and as an alternative add it to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Talking on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, he framed the transfer as a part of a broader push to carry digital-asset innovation again to the U.S.
The feedback got here amid questions over BTC seizures tied to instances involving Twister Money and Samourai Pockets builders.
Whereas declining to debate energetic litigation, Bessent pressured that seized BTC shall be retained by the federal authorities as soon as authorized damages are resolved.
Any promoting of BTC would contradict Govt Order 14233, which requires forfeited bitcoin to be held within the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve fairly than liquidated.