U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated the government lacks authority to compel banks to buy Bitcoin during a House committee hearing. He defended the policy of holding seized Bitcoin but did not specify if taxpayer funds could be used for crypto purchases. The testimony later devolved into a shouting match with Rep. Gregory Meeks regarding the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent engaged in a complex debate about Bitcoin’s nature during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. He was questioned by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) about the token’s potential role in a future financial crisis.
Sherman asked if the Treasury Department had the authority to bail out Bitcoin, prompting Bessent to seek clarification on what that phrase meant. The congressman then queried whether Bessent could order U.S. banks to purchase Bitcoin.
“I do not have the authority to do that,” Bessent answered. Sherman later asked if U.S. taxpayer dollars would ever be invested in crypto assets under the Treasury Secretary’s oversight.
Bessent countered by defending the U.S. government’s current policy of stockpiling seized Bitcoin. He did not provide a direct answer regarding using taxpayer money to buy additional Bitcoin before Sherman’s questioning time concluded.
Minutes later, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) pressed Bessent on whether he would instruct the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to withhold a bank charter from the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial. This pertained to an investigation into the firm’s reported partial acquisition by a UAE entity linked to a controversial White House-brokered AI chip deal.
Bessent declined to discuss the deal, stating the OCC is independent, and then accused Meeks of taking a trip to Venezuela in 2006. The two men shouted at each other before committee chair French Hill (R-AR) intervened. “Stop covering for the president!” Meeks yelled. “Don’t be a flunky, work for the American people!”
