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Bitcoin fell sharply Thursday after the US Treasury made clear it will not add to a planned Bitcoin reserve through new purchases.
Prices had earlier rallied to an intraday high near $124,120, but traders saw gains reverse and the token backpedaled to around $118,550 later in the session.
Markets were jittery, and parts of the crypto futures market saw forced liquidations during the sell-off.
Treasury Rules Out New Buys
According to reports, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business the government will not be buying additional Bitcoin for the reserve and that future additions will come from confiscated assets.
“We’re not going to be buying that,” he said, and he added the Treasury would “stop selling” holdings it already controls.
Bessent estimated the reserve’s current value at somewhere between $15 billion and $20 billion.
The comments stand in relief to an earlier move by US President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order asking for budget-neutral plans to grow strategic Bitcoin holdings.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Treasury Secretary Bessent says the US Government is “not going to be buying” Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/vL79P531CP
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) August 14, 2025
Market Reaction And Price Swings
Based on reports, the sell-off erased a chunk of Thursday’s gains. One feed showed Bitcoin drop from about $121,050 to $117,201 within an hour, while other data points put the low near $118,460.
Trading platforms recorded a wave of liquidations estimated at roughly $450 million around the same time.
Traders said the sudden shift was driven by the clarity in policy — investors had been pricing a possible government buyback program into earlier optimism, and that expectation faded after Bessent’s remarks.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Fox, “We are not going to be buying,” referring to crypto reserves, and will instead use seized assets. He has also stated that the value of Bitcoin reserves is about $15 billion to $20 billion, and that the…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 14, 2025
Macroeconomic Signals And Tariff Revenue
Reports have also disclosed that Bessent linked some balance-sheet plans to rising tariff collections, saying July brought nearly $30 billion in tariff revenues.
Bessent suggested annual tariff receipts could top a previous projection of $300 billion, a figure he said could help fund other asset strategies.
The timing of his comments also came as US data showed the Producer Price Index rising 3.3% year-on-year and 0.9% month-on-month for July, numbers that add to the broader economic backdrop investors are watching.
Confiscated Assets Versus Direct Purchases
The Treasury secretary’s note that confiscated assets will be used to grow the reserve shifts the funding model away from direct Treasury buys.
For now, that means any further increase in the reserve would be gradual and dependent on law enforcement recoveries rather than market purchases.
Market participants said that stance removes a clear, predictable buyer from the market, which can make price swings larger over short windows — exactly what traders saw on Thursday.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
