US Senate Introduces Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Legislation

The U.S. Senator for Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis officially introduced the Boosting Innovation, Technology and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide (BITCOIN) Act in the U.S. Senate. This announcement comes after former President Donald Trump promised to create a “strategic national bitcoin reserve” at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.

What does the bill say?

The BITCOIN Act creates a strategic Bitcoin reserve to strengthen America’s balance sheet and transparently manage the federal government’s Bitcoin assets. The bill proposes a decentralized network of safe Bitcoin storage facilities located around the United States, known as the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, for cold storage of government Bitcoin holdings. The Bitcoin vaults will operated by the United States Department of Treasury.

According to the press release on the Senator’s official website, the proposal would also establish a 1-million-unit Bitcoin acquisition program over an established period to acquire a total stake of around 5% of total Bitcoin issuance, similar to the size of the United States gold reserves.

The measure would be funded by diversifying existing money from the Federal Reserve System and the Treasury Department.

The legislation would affirm private Bitcoin holders’ self-custody rights while emphasizing that the strategic Bitcoin reserve would not interfere with individual financial freedoms.

What did Lummis say?

Senator Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. announced the bill at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee.

In an interview with The Block, Sen. Lummis said “Bitcoin is a great store of value. Over the last four years or so, it has increased by about 55% per year. During the same period, the U.S. dollar has declined in value and we’ve seen increasing inflation.”

“So it would be of value, in my opinion, to have a hard asset that backs the U.S. dollar and that grows in value instead of declines in value,” she added.

Forbes reported, that the bitcoin price has climbed almost 20% since Trump was revealed to be the headline speaker at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. The U.S. currently holds around 212,000 seized bitcoins, worth some $15 billion, compared to its $600 billion worth of gold reserves.