U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve legislation includes commitment to buy 1 million BTC in next 5 years

Arguably the biggest catalyst in the history of Bitcoin could boost the price of the number one cryptocurrency to unimagined heights if the current Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill is passed.

Bitcoin Act is introduced

On Tuesday, Republican Congressman Nick Begich introduced a bill to the House for the formation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He was joined in this endeavour by Senator Cynthia Lummis who is sponsoring the bill. 

Included in the bill is a commitment to purchase 200,000 BTC per year over the next 5 years. The bill has the purpose of enabling the US to acquire as much as 5% of the entire Bitcoin supply, which would likely put the US in the driving seat as the number one holder of Bitcoin in the world.

While President Trump has already signed an executive order for the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, this latest bill aims to go well beyond this and be enshrined into law. This would prevent future governments from overturning the legislation, and would set a minimum amount of 20 years before any sales could be made.

According to an article on the subject by the Washington Examiner, Begich is quoted as saying: 

“Any strategic reserve asset needs to be held long enough to be strategic, and so the United States government is not a day trader. We’re interested in long-term, stable assets that provide a strategic advantage to the national balance sheet.”

He added: 

“What this bill does is it establishes the strategic Bitcoin reserve in law, long-term, so what a president can do in four years, a Congress can do permanently.”

Can the bill pass?

For this legislation to be enacted, it still has to pass through both houses, and although the republicans control both House and Senate, true understanding of Bitcoin is probably in its infancy, and congressmen and senators may be swayed by the plethora of negative mainstream press that has dogged Bitcoin practically over the whole course of its sixteen years of existence. 

Europe follows a totally different path

The US direction into a future monetary policy that includes Bitcoin, is in stark contrast to what Europe is currently following. A few days ago, ECB President Christine Lagarde stated in a press conference, when asked about a “golden opportunity” for a European digital currency, that she agreed with this, and that the European Central Bank had a deadline of October 2025 to implement a CBDC.

Lagarde said that this implementation would only be able to take place if “stakeholders”, which she denominated as the European Commission, the European Council, and the European Parliament, were all in agreement.

A Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would have the effect of giving total control to the European Central Bank over the movement of every single transaction made by citizens. This would include the ability to prevent any transaction before it happens, and to financially sanction a citizen immediately if the central bank thought that transactional, or any other behaviour of a citizen, transgressed its policies.

The future of finance is about to be decided

While such a tight and restrictive financial implementation awaits all European citizens, the U.S. government is going in completely the opposite direction, as it seeks to enable its citizens to have the right by law to hold and transact with Bitcoin - a currency that is completely outside of government control.

Which bloc will end up the richer, both financially and in terms of freedom, remains to be seen. But this year will likely witness an epic struggle between the two. The future of finance is about to be decided.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.