Bitcoin News Today: Treasury Builds $23B Bitcoin Reserve—All from Seized Crime Proceeds

The U.S. Treasury has confirmed that the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will be funded exclusively through seized assets rather than through direct purchases of Bitcoin using public funds. In an interview with Fox Business on August 14, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated that the government would continue to build the reserve using BTC confiscated from criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, with no intention of selling any of the holdings in the near future. According to Bessent, the reserve currently holds between $15 and $20 billion worth of Bitcoin, based on current market prices. Independent analytics firm Bitbo estimated that the U.S. government owned 198,012 BTC as of December 2024, valued at approximately $23.6 billion, with nearly half of those holdings—94,643 BTC—seized from a 2022 case involving the Bitfinex hack.

The reserve was established in March 2025 under President Trump’s executive order, which specifically outlined the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a separate U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. Unlike traditional commodities, the executive order did not define specific use cases for the BTC reserve beyond stating that it would be “utilized to meet governmental objectives in accordance with applicable law.” The strategy for building the reserve mirrors that of other strategic reserves, such as gold or oil, where the government accumulates assets for potential use during times of crisis or economic instability. However, unlike these traditional reserves, the BTC holdings are not intended for immediate sale or use, and the government has no plans to allocate public funds for further purchases. Instead, the Treasury is mandated to explore budget-neutral strategies to expand the reserve without increasing the national deficit.

Recent law enforcement activities have contributed to the expansion of the reserve. In April 2025, the Dallas FBI seized 2,400 BTC linked to the Chaos ransomware group, and the Department of Justice followed up in July with an effort to seize an additional $2.8 million in digital assets from a wallet controlled by Ianis Aleksandrovich Antropenko, who was accused of orchestrating ransomware attacks using the Zeppelin ransomware. The DOJ described these assets as proceeds from criminal activity and indicated that part of the seized funds could eventually be added to the strategic reserve. However, the agency did not specify how much of the assets were BTC or how much would be returned to victims versus retained by the government. These seizures highlight the ongoing role of U.S. law enforcement in populating the BTC reserve with assets obtained through criminal investigations.

At the corporate level, Strategy Inc., a major Bitcoin accumulator, has continued to expand its own holdings, recently increasing its reserves by 430 BTC for $51.4 million. This brings the company’s total holdings to 629,376 BTC, valued at nearly $74 billion at current market prices. The company has maintained a disciplined accumulation strategy, using a combination of cash and debt financing to acquire Bitcoin over the long term, regardless of short-term price fluctuations. As of mid-August 2025, Strategy reported a year-to-date yield of 25.1% on its Bitcoin strategy, demonstrating the resilience of its investment approach. The firm has also updated its MSTR equity issuance framework to align with its Bitcoin NAV (mNAV), allowing for more strategic equity issuance based on the ratio of enterprise value to Bitcoin NAV.

The U.S. Treasury has also faced calls to explore alternative budget-neutral methods of funding the Bitcoin reserve. One such proposal, put forward by Adam Livingston, author of The Bitcoin Age and The Great Harvest, suggests channeling a portion of the unallocated $70 billion tariff surplus into purchasing BTC for the reserve. Livingston emphasized that this surplus—collected from customs duties—was not earmarked for specific programs and could be repurposed to support the strategic reserve without additional taxation or deficit spending. Another potential avenue, already being considered by the Treasury, is the revaluation of its gold holdings, which currently reflect a market price of $3,335 per ounce versus the book value of $42.22 per ounce. This discrepancy represents a potential budget-neutral source of capital that could be used to acquire more Bitcoin without increasing federal spending.

Despite these proposals, the U.S. Treasury has yet to clarify how it will implement the “budget-neutral pathways” outlined in the executive order. While Secretary Bessent has affirmed the government’s commitment to exploring new strategies, no definitive plans have been announced. This uncertainty has left many observers speculating about potential future developments, though any projections remain speculative and subject to the constraints outlined in the executive order.

Source:

[1] US Treasury confirms Bitcoin Reserve will rely on seizures (https://coingeek.com/us-treasury-confirms-bitcoin-reserve-will-rely-on-seizures/)

[2] US should fund Bitcoin strategic reserve with tariff surplus (https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-fund-bitcoin-strategic-reserve-tariff-surplus)

[3] Strategy Expands Bitcoin Reserves to $74B, Unveils New ... (https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/strategy-bitcoin-reserves-new-mstr-equity-issuance-framework/)