According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, forfeited bitcoin will seed the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, with budget‑neutral expansion under Trump’s March order; BitMine chairman Tom Lee endorsed the plan on August 17.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterated this week that the government will not purchase bitcoin outright for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), instead using confiscated assets as a store of value. In two August 14 X posts, Sen. Cynthia Lummis endorsed his approach as a budget‑neutral method to grow the reserve without adding to the $37 trillion national debt. Lummis suggested revaluing gold reserves to current prices to help seed the SBR, despite Bessent previously stating a gold revaluation is unlikely. Bitcoin forfeited to the federal government will form the SBR’s foundation, created by President Trump’s March executive order. Treasury will also explore additional budget‑neutral options to expand holdings in pursuit of making the U.S. the “Bitcoin superpower of the world.” On August 17, BitMine’s new chairman Tom Lee endorsed Bessent’s statement supporting the plan to build the reserve from forfeited bitcoin and pursue budget‑neutral accumulation methods. BTC was trading around $117,000 on Friday after briefly topping $124,000 the prior day.