Trump Floats Sizable US Bitcoin Purchase, BTC Reclaims $70K

Trump says the US is considering a sizable Bitcoin purchase. BTC reclaimed $70K, over $1B in shorts got liquidated, and spot ETFs saw nearly $500M in two-day inflows.

Trump Floats Sizable US Bitcoin Purchase, BTC Reclaims $70K

President Donald Trump said the U.S. government is weighing plans to buy and accumulate a “sizable” amount of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, reviving the strategic reserve conversation traders had largely priced out.

The comments moved the tape fast. Bitcoin reclaimed a key level, shorts got run over, and spot BTC ETFs pulled in fresh money.

What Trump actually said

Asked whether the administration plans to accumulate a sizable amount of Bitcoin, the president did not rule it out, tying the idea directly to the dollar’s strength.

This builds on the March executive order that created the “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” which includes bitcoin already in possession of the federal government, alongside a separate “Digital Asset Stockpile” to house cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin. The original order restricted new buys to “budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin” with no incremental cost to taxpayers.

Market reaction was immediate

Bitcoin reclaimed the $70,000 level on Wednesday for the first time since June 2, ending a 78-day stretch below that threshold. The move marked a sharp reversal from just two days earlier, when Bitcoin traded below $64,000.

Crypto shorts lost $1.23 billion in a single hour, with one Hyperliquid whale losing an 1,800 BTC position worth about $117 million. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw two-day inflows near $487 million.


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The macro backdrop helped

The rally gathered momentum through the session as falling Treasury yields, a softer dollar, and renewed institutional inflows created a favorable backdrop for risk assets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes.

The Treasury announced it will double long-end debt buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation, pushing the 30-year yield down from 5.337%. Lower long yields plus a softer dollar is a well-known tailwind for BTC and gold-like stores of value.

How big could a “sizable” buy actually be?

Under Trump’s existing order, the U.S. government will retain the estimated 200,000 bitcoin it’s already seized in criminal and civil proceedings, according to Trump’s “crypto czar” David Sacks. Sacks added that the U.S. government has previously sold off about 195,000 bitcoin over the last decade for $366 million, and said those bitcoins would be worth about $17 billion if the government hadn’t sold them.

Any incremental purchases would need congressional buy-in or a creative funding mechanism to stay budget-neutral. Traders should watch for follow-through language from Treasury, not just the headline.

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch these tickers for follow-through if the reserve talk turns into policy:

  • MSTR: The largest corporate BTC holder. Watch for elevated call flow and IV expansion on any confirmation of government buying.
  • COIN: Volumes and custody revenue benefit directly from a sustained BTC bid. Watch for skew shifts.
  • IBIT: BlackRock’s spot BTC ETF is the cleanest proxy for the ETF inflow trade.
  • MARA and RIOT: Miners get the beta trade on any move higher in spot BTC.

Also worth tracking is related policy and macro news for signals on how serious the administration is about moving from rhetoric to actual accumulation.

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