Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Holds Bitcoin in a Coinbase Wallet, Filing Shows
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reported holding Bitcoin in a Coinbase wallet in his 2025 annual financial disclosure, listed as two separate entries valued between $1,001–$15,000 and $15,001–$50,000. The combined holdings therefore range roughly between $16,000 and $65,000, and no Bitcoin transactions above $1,000 appear in the filing's transaction section.
Why It Matters
The disclosure provides an official, range-based view of a Cabinet official's crypto holdings alongside other assets and liabilities, offering transparency about potential financial interests and how they compare with larger public figures' crypto exposure.
Key Facts
- Source of disclosure: Office of Government Ethics filing covering 2025
- Type of crypto and custodian: Bitcoin held in a Coinbase wallet
- Entries reported: Two entries: one valued $15,001–$50,000; one valued $1,001–$15,000
- Combined holding range: Approximately $16,000 to $65,000
- Transactions above $1,000: No Bitcoin purchases or sales appear in the transactions section (which captures trades over $1,000)
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disclosed holdings of Bitcoin stored in a Coinbase wallet in his 2025 annual financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics. The cryptocurrency appears under “other assets and income” as two separate line items: one in the $15,001–$50,000 range and another in the $1,001–$15,000 range. Because the forms report ranges rather than exact amounts, the combined position is between roughly $16,000 and $65,000.
Both entries list the income type as capital gains, and neither appears in the filing’s transactions section, which records purchases or sales over $1,000 during the reporting period. On the face of the disclosure, Hegseth did not execute any Bitcoin trades above that threshold during the year covered by the report.
The Bitcoin holding is a relatively small component of Hegseth’s reported finances. The filing indicates at least $3.1 million in combined cash, retirement accounts and the disclosed Bitcoin position. The couple lists five retirement accounts invested in index and Avantis funds, and three U.S. bank cash accounts, one of which is reported at more than $1 million.
The disclosure also reflects portfolio changes and liabilities. In the weeks after taking office in January 2025, Hegseth sold stakes in several individual stocks, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Honeywell, KKR and Blackstone on Feb. 7, and later sold holdings in major tech and payment companies. He reported purchasing index funds across 2025. On liabilities, the filing lists two mortgages on a personal residence, each in the $1,000,001–$5,000,000 range, with one taken out in 2022 and the other in 2025 at an 8.5% interest rate. Hegseth signed the report in May; an agency ethics official certified it in August, and the Office of Government Ethics certified it on Sept. 18.
For context within the administration, the filing’s crypto figures are modest compared with President Donald Trump’s June disclosure, which reported more than $50 million in Bitcoin and over $1.2 billion in earnings from crypto ventures, including $635 million attributed to a meme coin.
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