Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., reintroduced her bill to create a strategic bitcoin reserve, following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to create one.
“I am proud to reintroduce landmark legislation that will codify President Trump’s bold vision to establish the United States Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and strengthening our nation’s economic foundation for generations to come,” Lummis said in a March 11 news release.
Lummis first introduced a bill to create such a reserve in July, but the bill never moved in the Senate. Sens. Jim Justice, R-W.Va.; Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Roger Marshall, R-Kan.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, are co-sponsors of the reintroduced legislation. Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, introduced companion legislation in the House.
On March 6, Trump signed an executive order establishing both a bitcoin strategic reserve and a U.S. digital asset stockpile. The reserve will use bitcoin held by the Treasury Department and forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, according to the order, which also tasks the Treasury secretary with creating an office to oversee custodial accounts for the reserve.
Lummis’ bill gives the Treasury secretary the responsibility of monitoring and auditing the reserve’s holdings, and also tasks them with choosing the reserve’s locations “based on a comprehensive risk assessment,” as well as implementing “state-of-the-art physical and digital security measures” for protecting the reserve, according to the bill text.
The bill also calls for establishing a “Bitcoin Purchase Program” to purchase 200,000 bitcoins each year for a five-year period, so the purchase can total 1 million bitcoins.
The president’s executive order directs the secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce departments to develop strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin, “provided that such strategies are budget neutral and do not impose incremental costs on United States taxpayers,” but the order does not lay out any specifics on how much to purchase or for how long.
“Bitcoin is not simply a technological opportunity, but a national imperative for America’s continued financial leadership in the 21st century,” Lummis said in the news release. “By transforming the president’s visionary executive action into enduring law, we can ensure that our nation will harness the full potential of digital innovation to address our national debt while maintaining our competitive edge in the global economy.”
