Treasury moving at deliberate speed to build Bitcoin reserve

Scott Bessent testified before the Senate Finance Committee on June 3 during a hearing on the 2027 budget and crypto policy. He described the department’s work on a strategic Bitcoin reserve as moving at ‘deliberate speed’ and urged lawmakers to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act this summer.

Bessent called the reserve ‘new ground’ for the Treasury and said officials are focused on building custody and management systems that can operate under federal oversight. He emphasized the need for secure custody, transparent accounting and long-term governance for the holdings.

The United States currently holds 328,372 bitcoin, valued at about $20.6 billion, most of it seized through criminal and civil forfeitures. A March 2025 executive order directed the Treasury to develop protocols for custody and management of those assets and to design a framework for a strategic reserve.

Treasury staff are working through legal and operational questions, including secure storage, insurance, auditing, valuation and rules for future use or disposition of the assets. Bessent urged applying established practices from other asset classes where appropriate while adapting procedures for digital assets.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act would define when tokens are regulated as securities or commodities and aim to create a clearer regulatory structure for digital markets. The Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill last month; it still must clear the full Senate.

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis praised the testimony on social media and is the sponsor of the BITCOIN Act, which would allow the federal government to buy up to one million bitcoin. In the House, Rep. Nick Begich reintroduced a companion bill, the American Reserves Modernization Act. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said in April negotiators expected a ‘breakthrough’ on the reserve.

Bessent outlined a phased, oversight-focused implementation and asked Congress for statutory clarity before broader action. Lawmakers will consider technical and policy issues as related legislation advances through Congress.