Bitcoin slid beneath the $120,000 mark on Thursday, reaching $118,730 after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent introduced that the federal government wouldn’t undertake further bitcoin acquisitions for its strategic reserve.
This transfer follows a current all-time excessive of $124,457 earlier within the day, with the decline attributed on to Bessent’s feedback throughout a Fox Enterprise interview.
Treasury clarifies bitcoin reserve coverage
Bessent clarified that whereas the US has begun constructing a bitcoin reserve, the federal government won’t make contemporary purchases however will as an alternative depend on confiscated belongings. He said:
“We’ve additionally began to get into the twenty first century, a Bitcoin reserve. We’re not going to be shopping for that, however we’re going to use confiscated belongings and proceed to construct that up.”
This technique aligns with President Donald Trump’s March government order establishing each a strategic bitcoin reserve and a separate digital asset stockpile, funded initially with cryptocurrency seized in felony instances.
US will cease promoting seized bitcoin
Regardless of ruling out new purchases, Bessent confirmed that the federal government will halt gross sales of present bitcoin holdings. He mentioned:
“We’re going to cease promoting. I consider that the Bitcoin reserve at at the moment’s costs is someplace between $15 billion and $20 billion.”
White Home adviser David Sacks has echoed this strategy, describing the reserve as a “digital Fort Knox” supposed to behave as a retailer of worth relatively than a buying and selling asset.
Market response and debt backdrop
Simply hours earlier than the announcement, bitcoin briefly surpassed Google’s $2.4 trillion market cap to develop into the world’s fifth-largest asset.
The pullback displays fading optimism about authorities assist.
In the meantime, the US nationwide debt just lately exceeded $37 trillion, amplifying investor curiosity in bitcoin as a hedge in opposition to inflation and financial enlargement.