A Bitcoin Strategic Reserve for the U.S.? Senator Cynthia Lummis Reveals Her Bill

Right after Presidential Republican nominee Donald Trump’s speech, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) laid out the much-anticipated idea of a strategic bitcoin reserve to wild applause.

After President Trump mentioned the core of a bitcoin strategic reserve, promising the U.S. would never sell the bitcoin it already has, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) appeared right after to unveil the bill proposing such a reserve, which had been widely rumored in the previous days. 

Lummis read aloud from the bill, stating the purpose was to establish a bitcoin strategic reserve which she described as, “a network of secure storage vaults, purchase programs and other programs to ensure the transparent management of bitcoin holdings of the Federal Government.” 

Repeating Trump’s pledge to start the reserve with the 210,000 bitcoin seized by law enforcement that the U.S. government already holds, she said the goal would be to “pull it into a reserve stored in geographically diverse vaults.”

Finally, Lummis shared that, “Over five years, the U.S. will assemble 1,000,000 bitcoin—5% of the world supply—and it will be held for a minimum of 20 years and will be held for one purpose: reduce our debt.”

Read More: What Would Trump Announcing a U.S. Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Mean?

Press Release Reveals More Details 

On the same day as her speech, Lummis’s office issued a press release that expanded on the idea of secure vaults for the bitcoin strategic reserve, emphasizing a “decentralized network of secure Bitcoin vaults operated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, with statutory requirements ensuring the highest level of physical and cybsecurity for the nation’s Bitcoin holdings.” 

The release also mentioned the 1-million-unit Bitcoin purchase program and explained the aim of gathering 5% of the total Bitcoin supply was to mirror the size and scope of gold reserves currently held by the United States. The release explained that bitcoin would “be paid for by diversifying existing funds within the Federal Reserve System and Treasury Department.” 

Finally, one aspect of the bill not addressed in her speech is to affirm the self-custody rights of private citizens to custody their Bitcoin themselves and for the strategic reserve to not impact the individual financial freedoms of U.S. citizens. 

The press release noted the bill is expected to be introduced in the coming days with additional cosponsors to be announced.

Read More: Senator Tim Scott Goes All In on Bitcoin, Paving the Way for 2025 Crypto Legislation

The ‘Louisiana Purchase Moment’ and Reducing U.S. Debt With Bitcoin  

Lummis called the initiative the U.S.’s ‘Louisiana Purchase’ moment, which referred to a time in 1803 when the Senate ratified a treaty with France brokered by President Thomas Jefferson. In a seminal moment for a new nation, the deal doubled the size of the United States for only $15 million dollars. With the comparison, Lummis is implying that the U.S. is getting a “bargain price” on bitcoin now vs. what it could be worth in the future. 

Lummis proclaimed, “With the strategic Bitcoin reserve, we will have an asset that, in that period of time before 2045 can cut our debt in half.”  Lummis then pointed to a speech yesterday by Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Microstrategy, who said if we bought $3.3 million in bitcoin for a U.S. strategic reserve, it could actually pay off our entire national debt over time.

Read More: Trump Has Made Promises to Crypto Voters. If He’s Elected, What Could He Actually Do?

As a way of thanking the crowd at the end, Lummis noted, “… it would be your love of freedom, your innovation, your thoughtful design, your keeping this asset alive, well free and in support of individual sovereignty, that is going to save America. Let’s make America free again.”