The post Empire Newsletter: What would a strategic bitcoin reserve look like? appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Today, enjoy the Empire newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter. 1 million BTC The US government has four official reserve assets. Why shouldn’t bitcoin be the fifth? Gold is by far the biggest. Or, more precisely, gold certificates. The US currently holds dollar-denominated certificates to almost 261.5 million fine troy ounces of gold.  The Fed values those certificates at $42.22 per ounce, a statutory price it has kept by law as of 1973. Gold trades for nearly $2,400, giving the Fed’s gold certificates at market value of $608.35 billion. There’s also $166.21 billion of claims to special drawing rights (SDR), a reserve asset maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  SDR is a liquidity pool, worth $943 billion as of the latest figures, from which countries can potentially pull. It consists of a basket of international currencies including the US dollar, euro, Chinese renminbi, yen and the sterling. US reserves also contain $35.2 billion in foreign currency, denominated in the euro and yen, as well as an additional $29.6 billion that can be withdrawn from the IMF on short notice (separate from the SDR pool). The US keeps strategic reserves of other valuable stuff, including oil (374.4 million barrels with a market value of $29.9 billion). But oil is not an official reserve asset like gold and foreign currencies. Bitcoin does look right at home amongst the other US reserve assets Still, if bitcoin-friendly Senator Cynthia Lummis gets her way, the US government will buy one million BTC ($67.7 billion) over five years to bolster Treasury coffers. A strategic bitcoin reserve managed by the US government. President Donald Trump otherwise floated a plan to stop the US from selling anymore of its seized bitcoin at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville. He’d…

---

Filed under: News - @ July 30, 2024 3:24 am