A morning soundbite from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent briefly rattled Bitcoin and crypto markets on Thursday before a late-day clarification restored the policy baseline: the United States won’t be sellers, and “budget-neutral” options to grow the country’s bitcoin stockpile remain on the table. Senator Cynthia Lummis swiftly framed the endpoint. “America needs the BITCOIN Act,” she wrote, calling the legislation the operative blueprint for expanding a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve without tapping taxpayers.

In a Fox Business hit that ricocheted across X, Bessent said the government is “not going to be buying” additional bitcoin and added, “We’re going to stop selling that,” referencing a reserve he valued between $15 billion and $20 billion. Markets faded into the statement; by mid-day, bitcoin was off roughly 3.7%. The point that stuck—“we’re not going to be buying”—was clipped and shared widely, but it was only half the story.

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Hours later, Bessent posted a clarifying note. “Bitcoin that has been finally forfeited to the federal government will be the foundation of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that President Trump established in his March Executive Order,” he wrote. “In addition, Treasury is committed to exploring budget-neutral pathways to acquire more Bitcoin to expand the reserve, and to execute on the President’s promise to make the United States the ‘Bitcoin superpower of the world.’” The course correction aligned his comments with the administration’s March directive and the policy discussion that has matured since.

Bitcoin Act Is Still The Way Forward

Lummis, chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets, seized the moment to underline the fiscal constraint. “Secretary Scott Bessent is right: a budget-neutral path to building SBR is the way. We cannot save our country from $37T debt by purchasing more bitcoin, but we can revalue gold reserves to today’s prices & transfer the increase in value to build SBR. America needs the BITCOIN Act.” In a separate reply to Bessent, she added: “I have a ₿ill for that.”

Her posts also flagged ongoing work “with Scott Bessent & Howard Lutnick to identify budget-neutral ways to continue growing our bitcoin reserve & outpacing adversaries in the race.”

The legal and administrative scaffolding for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was set five months ago. On March 6, President Trump signed an executive order creating the SBR and a separate US Digital Asset Stockpile, directing agencies to capitalize the reserve with Bitcoin “finally forfeited” to the government and to develop budget-neutral strategies for further acquisition.

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Lummis’s “BITCOIN Act” would take that framework from executive policy to statute and goes considerably further. The latest text lays out a five-year purchase program authorizing up to 200,000 BTC per year—1,000,000 BTC in total—paired with a 20-year minimum holding period and a quarterly, public cryptographic proof-of-reserves regime.

Where Bessent’s remarks intersect—and diverge—with that legislative ambition is gold. In March, he downplayed a formal revaluation of US gold as a credible budget lever, even as the broader policy conversation around the asset side of the federal balance sheet intensified. On Thursday, Bessent told Fox Business that a gold revaluation is “unlikely.” Lummis, by contrast, is explicitly proposing to mark gold to market in order to seed the SBR without new borrowing—an idea that has migrated from think-piece fodder to bill text but still faces macro, legal, and central-bank-independence scrutiny.

The bottom line is that Thursday did not mark a policy reversal so much as a restatement of sequencing. The executive branch will build the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve first with finally forfeited coins and, per Bessent’s clarification, is actively evaluating budget-neutral ways to expand it.

At press time, BTC traded at $118,751.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Today, Senator Ramis announced a bill that will allow US citizens to spend up to $300 worth of Bitcoin on goods and services on the $5,000 limit each year.

The proposed law also provides that spending thresholds will be adjusted for inflation from 2026.

Such provisions were initially conceptualized as amendments that Senator Lumith promoted to include in one big beautiful bill (OBBB), but they were not.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Krapo said Senator Ramis is working on tax reform laws on Bitcoin investment after he failed to give Senator Ramis’ amendments to vote at the OBBB’s marathon amendment meeting earlier this week.

The bill she released this morning was proof that she was true to what she said – it should be acknowledged and appreciated.

However, details about the minimum exemptions for Bitcoin spending were met with legitimate critiques.

Trey Walsh, founder of Progressive Bitcoiner and contributor to Bitcoin Magazine, said on X “the thresholds are very low” and “there should be no caps on products and services.”

“Making it about spending/payments. This is suitable for consumers,” Walsh added.

“You are not taxed on your money (dollars) on your spending. You should not be taxed on your money (bitcoin) for your spending either.”

Zach Herbert, founder of Foundation Devices, expressed his dissatisfaction with the bill in lesser terms.

Nick Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Financial and Financial Alternatives Center, proposed an alternative to spending thresholds for purchases.

Personally, I can live with a certain spending cap, but I feel that these should be substantially larger.

We hope that the De Minimis exemption will be applied to bring the annual threshold up to $600 (the original Lummis proposed for the OBBB amendment) and $25,000 annually.

Now you might think of certain John Lennon lyrics.

“You might say I’m a dreamer…”

But that line guarantees that many other prominent voices in the Bitcoin space are also being told to ask that Bitcoin spending bill provisions are more important.

“…But I’m not the only one.”

So, if we agree where we came from, perhaps some of you will join us in politely speaking up to require Senator Ramis to consider increasing the bill’s spending threshold. We also express your gratitude for your commitment to moving forward by creating bills that treat Bitcoin as a medium of exchange.

This article is a take. The opinions expressed are entirely the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

Senator Cynthia Lummis revealed on June 30 that she would introduce an amendment to add crypto tax language to the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) amid pushes from crypto advocates in the same direction.

Lummis posted on X that she is drafting an OBBB amendment “to ensure Americans can use digital assets without fear of tax violations.” She added: 

“For years, miners and stakers have been taxed TWICE. Once when they receive block rewards and again when they sell it. It’s time to stop this unfair tax treatment and ensure America is the world’s Bitcoin and Crypto Superpower.” 

The proposal revives earlier bipartisan efforts to exempt small gains on everyday transactions. 

Matthew Pine, executive director of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, asked supporters to email or call senators and request “a narrowly tailored Bitcoin de minimis tax exemption.” 

According to Pine’s suggested script, the current rules require users to compute capital gains on minor purchases, a record-keeping burden that “discourages fair compliance and everyday adoption.”

Timing of taxation for block rewards

Dennis Porter, chief executive of the Satoshi Action Fund, focused his outreach on mining and proof-of-stake earnings. 

He told callers to explain that those rewards “are taxed once as ordinary income when they’re created, then again as capital gains when they’re sold.” 

Porter’s proposed fix would tax rewards only at disposition, aligning them with self-generated property such as farm produce. 

Colin McLaren of the Solana Policy Institute echoed the appeal, stating that Congress and the Senate Finance Committee “need to clarify key digital asset tax issues around staking” and should incorporate Lummis’s language to “unlock the future of innovation.”

Lobbying coordination intensifies

Cody Carbone, CEO of the Digital Chamber lobbying group, amplified the message in a post.

He said that taxes on block and staking rewards should be applied at sale instead of creation, adding that legislation should treat these rewards as “created property.”

Carbone’s call added the Digital Chamber’s membership to a coalition that now includes Bitcoin policy advocates, proof-of-stake supporters, and general crypto trade groups. All scripts emphasize courtesy and brevity when speaking with congressional offices.

Supporters view this week’s committee negotiations as a narrow window to attach digital asset provisions before the bill reaches the Senate floor. 

They argue that the combined de minimis exemption and block reward timing fix would streamline individual reporting, reduce compliance costs, and keep validation activity in the US. 

Senate staff have not released the draft text, and negotiators have not indicated whether the two issues will be advanced together or separately.

Mentioned in this article

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United States Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) says elements of the nation’s uniformed leadership are now “big supporters” of plans to build a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), marking the first time a sitting law-maker has publicly claimed high-level military backing for the project.

Bitcoin Reserve Gains Military Support

“There are generals, especially in Southeast Asia, who believe it is important to have strategic Bitcoin stockpiles, because we are in an economic war with China,” Lummis told Bloomberg Television late Tuesday. “All we need to do is look to the leadership of the current US military to find support for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.”

Lummis reiterated her plan to accumulate 1 million BTC — roughly 5 percent of the supply — and hold it for twenty years. “My purpose is to… illuminate half of the US debt,” she said. The senator’s first funding tranche would rely on Bitcoin already in federal custody: “The place to start is to use the money held by the US Marshals Service… asset-forfeiture monies in the form of digital assets. That can be the basis for year one of a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

Lummis’ remarks land two months after President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14233, creating a SBR capitalised with all BTC forfeited in federal cases and instructing agencies to transfer their holdings to Treasury-run cold wallets.

The House and Senate are now considering companion “BITCOIN Act” bills that would codify the reserve in statute and authorise Treasury to purchase additional coins with “no incremental cost to taxpayers.” Even so, Lummis conceded legislation to expand or finance the reserve directly is unlikely to surface this session.

“I don’t think we’re going to get to this bill in 2025, because our next priority is market-structure,” she said, referring to the looming fight over jurisdictional boundaries between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Responding to concerns that a BTC build-up might displace bullion, Lummis stressed she has “never proposed selling any of our gold or hard assets.” Instead she would re-value Treasury’s 1934-vintage gold certificates at fair-market prices and swap the accounting uplift into BTC: “convert[ing] our gold certificates to current fair-market value and use those to convert to Bitcoin.”

Asked about JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon’s call for Washington to hoard “bullets, drones and rare earths” instead of BTC, the senator fired back: “Even the United States military disagrees with him… We have to prepare for a guns-and-bullets war, but we need both.”

Notably, Lummis wants the reserve to be Bitcoin-only. “Bitcoin is based on proof-of-work,” she argued, indicating no appetite to diversify into proof-of-stake assets or stablecoins at the sovereign-reserve level.

At press time, BTC traded at $105,494.

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President Donald Trump supports the idea of the US government buying one million Bitcoin (BTC), says Senator Cynthia Lummis.

In March, Lummis (R-WY) introduced the Boosting Innovation, Technology, and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide (BITCOIN) Act in the Senate.

If passed, the bill would establish a decentralized network of Bitcoin vaults operated by the Department of the Treasury, and it would implement a one-million-unit BTC purchase program so the US government could control approximately 5% of the top crypto asset’s supply.

Lummis said in a speech this week that she’s “particularly pleased with President Trump’s support” of her BITCOIN Act.

“The BITCOIN Act is the only solution to our nation’s $36 trillion debt. I’m grateful for a forward-thinking president who not only recognizes this but acts on it.”

The Wyoming senator, a longtime BTC advocate, says the potential legislation would secure the country’s position as “a global leader in financial innovation.”

“As Bitcoin comes into more usage, its use makes the whole system more secure, more robust and more capable of serving our needs all over the world.

We should be the global leader with this fantastic new ledger-based asset that is in a digital format that is going to be transformative of the everyday economy and puts the everyday American, in fact, the everyday worker all over the world, in control of their own money.”

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Bitcoin is the only solution to the United States’ $36 trillion debt, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) said while promoting the BITCOIN Act in an X post on Friday.

Senator Cynthia Lummis Promotes The BITCOIN Act

“I’m particularly pleased with President Trump’s support of my Strategic Bitcoin Reserve initiative, which will address our national debt while securing America’s position as the global leader in financial innovation,” the Republican senator said in a video shared on social media.

Introduced by Lummis and Congressman Nick Begich (R-AK) in March at the Bitcoin for America Summit, the proposed legislation would see the creation of a federal Bitcoin reserve in a bid to make the U.S. the leader in digital asset technologies.

Lummis further alleged that large-scale adoption of Bitcoin would be “transformative” and put “the everyday worker all over the world in control of their money.”

“As Bitcoin comes into more usage, its use makes the whole system more secure, more robust, and more capable of serving our needs all over the world,” she added. “We should be the global leader with this fantastic, new ledger-based asset that is in a digital format.”

The U.S. Head Towards A Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Proponents of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve widely believe that it would position the U.S. as a technologically forward-looking global power while acting as a hedge against traditional financial concerns.

Trump largely campaigned on enacting a crypto-friendly regulatory framework, promising to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

In March, Trump signed an executive order mandating the development of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and digital asset stockpile.

“I am very positive and open-minded to cryptocurrency companies, and all things related to this new and burgeoning industry,” he said. “Our country must be the leader in the field.”

As of Friday afternoon, Bitcoin continued to experience a slight surge in value, hovering around $97,000.

The post BITCOIN Act Touted by Sen. Lummis to Slash $36T U.S. Debt appeared first on Cryptonews.

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At the Digital Asset Summit on March 19, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) claimed that the previous Biden administration may have sold a significant portion of the United States’ confiscated Bitcoin holdings. During a panel discussion, Senator Lummis outlined her concerns, explaining that while the United States government may have amassed a large sum of BTC through asset forfeitures, some of these funds might have been liquidated during the Biden era.

Did Biden Sell US Bitcoin?

“We’re trying to find out how much Bitcoin and whether they are fully surrendered to US custody. We think that could be the basis for the first year’s installment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. We think the United States has held about 200,000 Bitcoin in asset forfeiture. What we don’t know is how much of that the Biden administration was selling right before the Trump administration took office,” Lummis said.

According to Lummis, her office has issued formal inquiries to the US Marshals Service and spoken with United States Attorney General in Donald Trump’s cabinet Pam Bondi in a bid to confirm exactly how many BTC remain under federal control. When asked why it appears difficult to ascertain the precise holdings, Lummis was blunt:

“This should be easy to figure out. It should be easy to figure out why a federal agency has two times more credit cards issued than there are employees in the agency. I mean, there’s so much failure of just simple accounting and business practices in the federal government that it would shock you. It is inexcusable.”

Lummis has been a vocal proponent of integrating BTC into the US financial structure. Last week, she reintroduced the BITCOIN Act at a conference organized by The Bitcoin Policy Institute, aiming to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the federal government. The legislation proposes acquiring up to one million BTC over five years, positioning Bitcoin as a store of value similar to gold reserves.

Also at the Digital Asset Summit, Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) revealed that multiple pieces of legislation are circulating in Congress with similar goals. Emmer expressed confidence that these efforts to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill to buy 1 million BTC will be enacted: “Yes, there is legislation. I think there are different members that have different versions. … I believe before this Congress is done, that will be enacted.”

Bo Hines, Executive Director of the US Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, spoke in a separate interview about the US history with seized Bitcoin. According to Hines, the government once held approximately 400,000 BTC but sold roughly half for around $370 million—a sum that would be worth nearly $17 billion at current valuations.

“If we would have held on to that, it would have been worth $17 billion today. I mean, it just goes to show you how important this asset is and what we can do with it to benefit the American people.”

Hines also confirmed the White House’s ambition to expand the US government’s Bitcoin reserves in a budget neutral-way: “We feel like it’s in the best interest of Americans to hold on to this asset long term and accumulate as much as we can get. … We’ve talked about building the digital Fort Knox for the United States.”

He emphasized that such a Bitcoin strategy would be budget-neutral, avoiding any additional taxpayer burden. Hines believes the internal working group set up through the first digital assets Executive Order will produce “tremendous ideas on how to accomplish this.”

Two weeks ago, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order mandating the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The Reserve is to be funded by BTC seized under criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings. As per the order, relevant agencies must provide a comprehensive accounting of their digital asset holdings to the Secretary of the Treasury and the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.

At press time, BTC traded at $85,748.

Featured image from Wyoming Public Radio, chart from TradingView.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.