Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent says plans to acquire Bitcoin are under discussion

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent said plans for Bitcoin are under discussion and the government will appreciate the path forward. Speaking about CNBC's Squawk Box on Friday, Bessent shared his perspective on President Trump's recent order to establish a strategic Bitcoin Reserve along with tariff policies and more.

“In general, I'm a big US supporter, the world's leading US leader in cryptography,” Bescent said. “I think we have to bring it to land… use best practices and regulations.”

Working on the rationale for forming a Bitcoin reserve, Bessent said the first step is to stop selling seized Bitcoin before making any additional acquisitions.

“I think Bitcoin has to stop selling it before you accumulate it,” he said.

“What we have now is from the seized assets pool. I think what happened was that about $500 million in Bitcoin was seized and half of that was sold,” added Bessent.

According to Bessent, after dealing with the victim's repayment obligation, the remaining seized assets will be directed towards the reserves. He added that the Treasury will evaluate strategies for additional acquisitions.

“And we'll see what the future path is for more acquisitions for preparation,” Bescent said.

Bitcoin is the first focus, but Bessent noted that the initiative has a wider scope.

“We're starting with Bitcoin, but it's an overall crypto sanctuary,” he added.

When asked about the financial implications of the US government to acquire Bitcoin, especially given that the country is not carrying out the surplus, Bescent reiterated that it would be to halt the sale of seized Bitcoin before developing a new acquisition plan.

“That's why the first step is to stop sales and then we're going to plan from there,” he said. Staff and experts said they will discuss the next steps at the Whitehau Script Summit in a few hours.

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