Fred Thiel Advocates for U.S. Bitcoin Mining to Establish Strategic Reserve
“I think it’s critical; the U.S. making a statement that we’re going to have a strategic reserve is an empty statement unless you start putting stuff into it," he asserted.
Published on May 27, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, has proposed that the U.S. government should initiate Bitcoin mining as a means to create a strategic reserve under President Donald Trump’s administration. During a discussion panel at Bitcoin 2025, he outlined potential approaches this could take, including utilizing surplus hydroelectric energy for domestic mining operations.
Despite Trump’s announcement about a strategic Bitcoin reserve nearly three months ago, the specifics of how the government will start the filling process remain unclear, raising concerns among multiple conference participants.
Thiel emphasized the importance of action:
“I think it’s critical. The U.S. making a statement that we’re going to have a strategic reserve is an empty statement unless you start putting stuff into it.”
Currently, the reserve is expected to consist of around 200,000 bitcoins obtained through governmental forfeiture actions. Senator Cynthia Lummis has indicated that acquiring existing government bitcoins is merely an initial move, with intentions for larger acquisitions in the future. In March, she proposed the BITCOIN Act of 2025, which aims to formalize the plans for the strategic reserve, envisioning that after incorporating forfeited bitcoins, the government would slowly allocate a portion of its gold assets into Bitcoin over several years.
Lummis stated:
“We have enough assets in underperforming capacities that we can acquire five percent of the world’s Bitcoin without spending any money.”
Nonetheless, she also recognized the challenges posed by Congress’s focus on stablecoin and market structure legislation, indicating that significant movements regarding the BITCOIN Act may take time.
“It’s going to be a heavier lift than I thought because so many people don’t understand bitcoin,” Lummis remarked.
