Treasury Secretary Wants US to Take ‘Worldwide Lead’ in Crypto

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he was “a big proponent” of the U.S. taking a global lead in crypto.

“I think we have to bring in onshore and then use our best practices and regulation,” Bessent said. 

Bessent’s comments come after an executive order was signed to establish a Bitcoin-only strategic reserve in the U.S. 

The price of the leading cryptocurrency dipped lower after it turned out that the reserve would be comprised only of the seized coins that the government already owns. 

For now, stopping Bitcoin sales appears to be the first step, according to Bessent. 

“Before you can accumulate it, you have to stop selling it,” Bessent said. 

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According to the most recent data, the U.S. currently holds nearly $17 billion worth of confiscated coins. The government has also lost nearly as much by selling Bitcoin too early. 

However, according to Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, the current Bitcoin balance available for re-purposing into the reserve is only about 88,000 BTC (43% of the current holdings). 

The 112,000 BTC related to the Bitfinex hack are not expected to go into the reserve. 

“After the victims are paid and all of that…any seized assets will go into that reserve,” Bessent said during the CNBC interview. 

After this, the US will be looking for a way forward to potentially conduct more acquisitions, according to Bessent. 

In the meantime, as reported by U.Today, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently said that he would not invest in cryptocurrencies.