Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterates the halt to sales of confiscated bitcoins to bolster the American strategic reserve.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has officially confirmed that the administration will completely stop selling seized bitcoins, allocating them instead to the national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bessent told journalist Christine Lee that this initiative represents a crucial component of a broader strategy aimed at attracting innovation in the digital asset sector to the United States, while maintaining federal oversight of confiscated cryptocurrencies.
The decision to establish a strategic reserve marks a departure from past practices, when seized bitcoins were routinely sold at auction. Bitcoin will now be treated as a long-term strategic asset, on par with gold or petroleum reserves.
The Treasury Secretary’s remarks came in response to questions regarding the management of bitcoins seized from the developers of Samourai Wallet.
While Bessent declined to comment on the specific case, he emphasized that any seized bitcoins will remain under federal government control once legal matters are resolved, rather than being liquidated as in previous years. “This administration’s policy is to add seized bitcoins to our digital asset reserve,” Bessent stated.
The strategic reserve was established through an executive order issued in March 2025, which positions Bitcoin as a long-term strategic asset for the United States. The measure, identified as Executive Order 14233, sets out the regulatory framework for the federal management of confiscated digital assets.
Last week, U.S. officials denied reports claiming that bitcoins seized from the developers of Samourai Wallet had been sold. Patrick Witt, a member of the Presidential Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, said that the Department of Justice confirmed that the 57.55 BTC, worth approximately $6.3 million, have not been and will not be liquidated.
