Overview
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee on June 3 that the department is committed to building out the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and asked lawmakers to pass the CLARITY Act before the summer recess.
- The reserve currently consists of roughly 328,372 BTC obtained from criminal forfeitures and law enforcement seizures and the March 6, 2025 executive order bars Treasury from selling those coins.
- Bessent framed the reserve as part of an economic-security doctrine and said Treasury is moving with “deliberate speed” while navigating novel legal and technical ground for custody and transfers.
- Congressional action is now central to the plan’s durability, with competing bills on the table including the CLARITY Act to set digital-asset rules and the BITCOIN Act to authorize large, long-term federal purchases and a 20-year hold.
- Operational and custody vulnerabilities, a previously promised ‘big announcement’ that has not yet materialized, and a narrow legislative calendar create the main short-term obstacles to turning the executive-order reserve into a durable, statutory program.