Sponsors (6)
The bill builds a large, government‑managed Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and clarifies private‑holding rights while trading increased transparency and potential fiscal/strategic benefits for substantial taxpayer exposure, cybersecurity and custody risks, reduced forfeiture flexibility, and governance/legal uncertainties.
Taxpayers and the federal government may gain a new reserve asset if the Treasury/Exchange Stabilization Fund and the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve acquire Bitcoin, which could appreciate over time or act as a fiat hedge.
All Americans and oversight bodies get stronger public transparency and accountability through required quarterly cryptographic attestations, third‑party audits, and GAO reporting on Reserve holdings and transactions.
Individuals and businesses that lawfully hold Bitcoin retain legal rights to buy, hold, transfer, and self‑custody private keys, preserving financial autonomy and privacy for holders who control their keys.
Taxpayers bear substantial financial risk because government purchases and long‑term holdings of volatile Bitcoin could produce large losses and expose the federal balance sheet to price swings and realized/unrealized losses.
Concentrating large amounts of Bitcoin in a federal reserve creates significant cybersecurity, custody, and national‑security targets and operational risks that could lead to theft, loss, or disruption affecting the public balance sheet and markets.
Law enforcement, victims, and courts lose flexibility because seized Bitcoin can no longer be sold to satisfy victim restitution or agency costs, potentially delaying or reducing recoveries and complicating forfeiture practice.
Based on analysis of 11 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes Treasury to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and buy 1,000,000 BTC over five years, sets custody/holding rules, requires public cryptographic audits, and directs funding via Fed remittances and gold‑certificate proceeds.
Creates a federally managed Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and directs the Treasury to buy 200,000 Bitcoin per year for five years (1,000,000 BTC total), store holdings in geographically dispersed cold-storage facilities, and hold purchased Bitcoin for at least 20 years. The bill requires public cryptographic proofs of custody, third‑party audits, annual reporting, and transfers of agency-held Bitcoin into the Reserve while also protecting private self‑custody rights for lawfully acquired Bitcoin. To help fund purchases, the bill amends statutes governing Federal Reserve bank surplus remittances and directs transfer of outstanding gold certificates to the Treasury with proceeds prioritized to buy Bitcoin (the text contains a malformed numeric amendment that creates legal ambiguity). It also allows states to voluntarily custody Bitcoin in segregated accounts in the Reserve under contract and places multi-year holding and disposition rules on forks, airdrops, and any acquired Bitcoin.
Official title: Establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and other programs to ensure the transparent management of Bitcoin holdings of the Federal Government, to offset costs utilizing certain resources of the Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 11, 2025 by Cynthia M. Lummis · Last progress March 11, 2025