Over 30 U.S. states are investigating the potential of publicly funded Bitcoin reserves, with Utah and Arizona close to enacting related legislation.
In Washington, federal lawmakers have yet to agree on a national Bitcoin reserve. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican Senator from Wyoming and chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets, spoke on this topic during New York Bitcoin Investor Week.
While Utah and Arizona have advanced proposals to acquire Bitcoin using public funds, there is significant opposition among lawmakers regarding state-managed Bitcoin reserves.
Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency, states like Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming have turned down Bitcoin reserve proposals. Lawmakers expressed concerns about the volatility and risks associated with cryptocurrencies, even as institutional Bitcoin adoption via exchange-traded funds on Wall Street approaches $100 billion.
Senator Lummis has introduced a bill that would enable the Federal Reserve to exchange a portion of its gold reserves for Bitcoin. The proposed legislation mandates that the U.S. government acquires up to 5% of Bitcoin’s total supply over a span of five years.
David Sacks, the White House’s point person on AI and cryptocurrencies, reiterated Trump’s ambition to establish a national Bitcoin reserve in a statement earlier this month, noting that the initiative is still in preliminary evaluations.
In her remarks in New York, Lummis noted: “We don’t have enough people comfortable enough in the House and Senate to do this yet.”
Stablecoins are expected to be the foundation of digital asset regulations. Both the Senate and House have introduced legislation aimed at standardizing rules for stablecoins. At the recent Senate Banking subcommittee hearing focused on cryptocurrency regulations, both Senators and industry experts agreed on the urgent need for stablecoin oversight.
