Several politicians have recently floated the idea of establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Donald Trump broached this issue earlier this year and made an explicit promise at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in late July: if he wins the presidency, the federal government will keep the bitcoins that it holds and all that it acquires in the future through law enforcement actions. The US government currently holds 212,848 of the roughly 19,732,900 bitcoins in existence. Its current holdings would be the basis of a Strategic National Bitcoin Stockpile.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., another presidential candidate, also delivered a keynote speech at Bitcoin 2024. His speech could have been entitled “I am a Bitcoiner, too.” He proposed that the federal government keep its current holdings of bitcoins and then acquire 550 bitcoins daily until it holds at least 4 million bitcoins. Compare that to the maximum number of bitcoins that can be created, which is 21 million. At nearly 20 percent of the total supply, the bitcoins to be purchased under Kennedy’s plan is quite a lot. He was not explicit about the sources of the funds used to acquire so many bitcoins. If debt were issued to finance the purchases, the debt would amount to 35 million dollars per day. about 13 billion dollars per year at current prices. This is quite small compared to the current deficit.

At the same conference, Senator Lummis from Wyoming announced a bill that would create a strategic bitcoin reserve of one million bitcoins, which would be held for at least 20 years. A major purpose of the bill would be to enhance returns on the Treasury’s assets, such as gold, and help to pay off the national debt.