It’s been a while since we heard anything about the BTC strategic reserve. Or the US government possibly buying BTC.
When something in the market gets very quiet, but you know it hasn’t gone away, it can be a good time to start paying attention.
Here’s what I’ve started to watch for. Scott Bessent is a markets guy, a trader by nature. He knows the legislative route to purchase BTC is slow and very public, so it’s likely to get front-run, especially by other nations (I think legislation is very important for long-term reasons, and will eventually happen in some form, but this is solely about price and Bessent’s thinking).
It’s not hard to imagine Bessent watching the recent BTC selloff with an opportunistic trader mindset.
At some point, would it really be surprising to get a public statement along these lines? “Consistent with this administration’s stated goal of supporting US leadership in technology, the US Treasury has acquired…”
Activity by the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) is not disclosed in real-time; Treasury posts annual reports and monthly statements on its website. But as a practical matter, Bessent would certainly make a public statement on this long before it showed up in any disclosure.
It’s been hard to forget him showing up for the opening of PubKey DC in the teeth of BTC’s current selloff.
The Treasury Secretary was at tonight's opening of PubKey DC.
In this type of market, signals like this don't matter much. Eventually traders look back and realize it mattered.