Donald Trump’s reported top pick for Treasury Secretary is an enthusiastic crypto supporter who has previously indicated support for the president-elect’s eyebrow-raising plan to establish a U.S. government strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Scott Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager who worked closely with the Trump campaign on fundraising and economic policy, is currently the top choice among transition team decision-makers to helm the Treasury Department, according to a Tuesday Bloomberg report.
Bessent is a vocal crypto proponent. During a Fox Business interview in July, the investor responded to a question about his support for Trump’s then-newly announced plan to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve by saying the move could be a wise one.
“I think that everything is on the table with Bitcoin,” he said at the time.
If Bessent were appointed Treasury Secretary, he would be in a key position to make those lofty ideas a reality. One proposal for establishing a U.S. government Bitcoin reserve, championed by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), would see the Treasury Department operate and oversee a decentralized network of secure Bitcoin vaults, similar to how it currently manages the nation’s gold reserves.
That plan would have the U.S. government buy as many as 1 million BTC—nearly 5% of the token’s total possible supply—over a five-year span. That extraordinary sum of BTC, valued at nearly $89 billion as of this writing, would be purchased by selling off some of the $7 trillion worth of bonds, loans, and gold currently in the Federal Reserve.
In July, Bessent framed integrating crypto with the U.S. economy as an essential way to keep the American economy in touch with people who have otherwise “soured” on traditional markets.
“Crypto is bringing in young people, it’s bringing in people who haven’t participated in markets,” he said at the time. “Having a market culture in the U.S. where people believe markets work for them is the centerpiece of capitalism.”
While Trump has not yet announced his pick for Treasury Secretary, substantial momentum appears to be coalescing around Bessent. On Polymarket, the hedge fund titan’s odds of winning the post currently stand at 89%.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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