Sponsors (6)
The bill formalizes federal acquisition, custody, and reporting of Bitcoin—offering potential strategic, transparency, and market‑stability benefits while concentrating substantial financial, cybersecurity, legal, and operational risks on taxpayers, governments, and the financial system.
Individuals and businesses (e.g., small-business owners, taxpayers, tech workers) retain the legal right to buy, hold, transfer, and self-custody lawfully acquired Bitcoin, preserving property rights and financial autonomy.
The federal government will build a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and authorize ESF/Treasury holdings and purchases (including up to 1,000,000 BTC over five years and Fed remittance-funded buys), creating the potential for an appreciating reserve asset and positioning the U.S. in digital-asset markets.
Treasury reporting, GAO oversight, and required third-party cryptographic attestations increase transparency and independent verification of government Bitcoin holdings and transactions, improving public accountability.
All taxpayers bear substantial financial risk because the Treasury/ESF and the Strategic Reserve will purchase and hold Bitcoin (including use of Fed remittances), exposing the federal balance sheet to extreme cryptocurrency price volatility and potential large losses.
Concentrating large amounts of Bitcoin in federal reserves (and centralizing custody) creates significant cybersecurity, custody, and national-security targets and operational risks that could lead to theft, loss, or disruption affecting taxpayers and financial-system participants.
Limiting the ability of agencies and courts to sell seized Bitcoin and imposing long minimum-hold periods (e.g., 5–20 years) reduces law-enforcement flexibility, may delay or reduce restitution for victims, and could complicate forfeiture and asset-disposition operations.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Creates a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, requires Treasury to buy 1,000,000 BTC over five years, mandates long-term holding, reporting, audits, and agency transfers of bitcoin to the Reserve.
Introduced March 11, 2025 by Cynthia M. Lummis · Last progress March 11, 2025
Creates a federally managed Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and directs the Treasury to acquire 1,000,000 bitcoin over five years (200,000 BTC per year), store those coins in secure cold-storage, and hold them for long periods with strict reporting and audit rules. The bill adds Bitcoin to certain Treasury authorities, requires federal agencies to transfer Bitcoin they acquire into the Reserve, protects private Bitcoin ownership and self-custody, and sets out funding mechanisms tied to Federal Reserve remittances and gold-certificate transfers (with a drafting error in one numeric provision). The law would require public cryptographic “proof of reserve” reporting, third-party audits, GAO oversight, and rules for handling forks and airdrops; it also authorizes a voluntary program for states to hold segregated Bitcoin accounts in the Reserve. Key fiscal and legal details (including a malformed statutory number and broad new Treasury responsibilities) create operational, market, and policy risks that could affect taxpayers, financial markets, federal agencies, and state governments.