Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee on June 3 that the Trump administration is pushing to lock in the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve through legislation, warning that the current setup rests on shaky executive authority. Bessent urged the Senate to pass the Clarity Act before summer ends, framing the digital-asset reserve as a national security imperative.
The reserve as it stands today
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was created by executive order on March 6, 2025. It holds roughly 328,372 BTC, worth about $25 billion — all of it sourced from criminal forfeitures and seizures. The executive order bars the Treasury from selling any of that bitcoin and directs the department to find budget-neutral ways to grow the stash. What it doesn't do is guarantee the reserve survives the next administration. Without a law from Congress, a future president could rescind the order and liquidate the holdings.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis’s BITCOIN Act would change that. It authorizes the Treasury to buy 200,000 BTC per year for five years, aiming for a total of 1 million coins, and requires the government to hold them for at least 20 years. That bill hasn’t reached a floor vote yet.
The Clarity Act's path through Congress
Before any purchase program can move forward, Bessent said lawmakers need to pass a comprehensive regulatory framework. That's the Clarity Act, which cleared the Senate Banking Committee last month by a 15-9 vote. Bessent told the committee the administration is “proceeding with all deliberate speed” and using “best practices” to make the reserve durable, but he made clear the clock is ticking: he wants the bill on the president's desk before the summer recess.
The Clarity Act would set rules for digital asset classification, exchange oversight, and custody standards — the kind of structure the industry has been asking for, and the kind that might give institutional investors cover to participate.
Why Bessent says it's a security issue
Bessent tied the bitcoin reserve directly to his national security doctrine. “Economic security is national security,” he told the panel. The line wasn't just rhetoric. By situating the reserve inside a national security argument, Bessent is trying to give it the kind of bipartisan buy-in that usually eludes standalone crypto bills. Whether that argument lands with Democrats on the committee remains to be seen — the Clarity Act’s 15-9 vote in Banking was mostly along party lines.
An executive order is not a law
The biggest unresolved question coming out of Tuesday’s hearing is simple: what happens if Congress doesn't act? The reserve exists right now by the grace of a single executive order. Bessent's testimony suggests the administration sees the legal vulnerability and wants to close it this year. The Senate now has the bill; the summer clock is running.
