According to Cointelegraph, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis is urging the United States Treasury Department to consider converting a portion of its gold holdings into Bitcoin (BTC) to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Lummis suggested that by transforming gold certificates held by the Treasury into Bitcoin, the impact on the government's balance sheet would remain "neutral," avoiding the need to spend approximately $90 billion to purchase Bitcoin at current market prices.
Senator Lummis has previously advocated for the Treasury to allocate part of its assets to acquire Bitcoin for a strategic reserve, though she had not specified which holdings should be liquidated to facilitate this acquisition. When introducing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill to the Senate, Lummis emphasized the importance of establishing the reserve, particularly as families in Wyoming face rising inflation and the national debt reaches unprecedented levels.
The proposal for a Bitcoin strategic reserve includes plans to secure 5% of the total Bitcoin supply, equivalent to 1 million BTC, to be held over a 20-year period. This ambitious target would require an investment of around $90 billion at current market prices. Investor and asset manager Anthony Pompliano has highlighted a global competition among sovereign governments to acquire Bitcoin, suggesting that the multi-billion-dollar cost is a minor expense in the context of government spending. Pompliano noted that the national debt increased by $850 billion in the last 90 days, and investing a similar amount in Bitcoin would represent a significant portion of its current market cap.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has expressed scepticism about the likelihood of a Bitcoin strategic reserve being established under President-elect Donald Trump. However, Novogratz speculated that if such a reserve were to be created under the incoming Trump administration, it could potentially drive the price of Bitcoin to $500,000 per BTC.
