US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reiterated the government’s commitment to adding Bitcoin obtained through criminal seizures and legal forfeiture to the national digital asset reserve.
At a Davos news conference on Tuesday, Bessent told reporters that the sale of seized Bitcoin remains suspended.
“If anything was seized, I believe it would have been seized from the founders, and the policy of this government is to add seized Bitcoin to our digital asset reserve after the damages are done,” Bessent said in response to questions about America’s 2026 strategy for the strategic Bitcoin reserve and the alleged Southern District of New York (SDNY) seizure of Bitcoin from Tornado Cash developers.
“Our view was first you have to stop selling, which we have done, and then we can add the assets in asset forfeitures,” Bessent added.
He did not comment further on the litigation involving Bitcoin seized from Tornado Cash founders by the SDNY.
Bitcoin Magazine reported earlier this month that the SDNY may have acted contrary to Executive Order 14233 by failing to transfer forfeited Bitcoin to the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR).
The outlet also questioned whether the US Marshals Service (USMS), at the direction of the Department of Justice (DOJ), used Coinbase Prime to liquidate over 57 BTC forfeited by Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill.
After the story was published, the USMS told DL News that it “has not sold the Bitcoin mentioned” and said it had “no idea how Bitcoin Magazine would get that information.”
In a statement last week from Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, the DOJ said the Bitcoin forfeited in the Samourai Wallet case was not liquidated and will be retained in the SBR.
Still, questions remain over why the DOJ signed an Asset Liquidation Agreement with the Samourai developers.
There is also uncertainty surrounding the administration’s plans to acquire more Bitcoin through budget-neutral means.
Bessent has repeatedly noted that the US will focus on growing the SBR with seized Bitcoin for now and has no immediate plans to purchase additional sats, while clarifying that budget-neutral options are still under consideration.
One such method is the BITCOIN Act, reintroduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis in March 2025.
The legislation has shown little progress and is unlikely to advance soon, with the focus now on crypto market structure legislation. Lummis will retire from the Senate next year.