Authored by Trey Walsh, Executive Director of The Progressive Bitcoiner,

I’ll start off by saying I have many reservations about the United States pursuing a Strategic Bitcoin reserve, with the major plans I’ve observed including legislation proposed by Senator Lummis and a draft Executive order from the Bitcoin Policy Institute (this does not include those proposed state-by-state, which is a different focus and a bit more straight forward given they hold some bitcoin to diversify their assets).

My reservations include timing, political (polarizing) ramifications, mechanisms/cost of obtaining Bitcoin, why the U.S. would pursue this as a nation already leading as the world reserve currency, government getting more involved with Bitcoin could lead to more involvement/influence with Bitcoin’s development, and ramifications on Bitcoin as money for U.S. citizens (would privacy, medium of exchange, self-custody be at greater risk?).

I think Nic Carter wrote an excellent piece questioning the SBR and advocating against the U.S. pursuing this which I’d highly encourage you to read.

While I have seen support for the SBR from Bitcoin proponents, mostly GOP politicians and Trump (in fairness Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna has said he’s supportive in theory I believe), there has yet to be any attention paid to this in a positive way from progressives. In fact, really only criticism. While I have my reservations and criticisms as I’ve clearly stated to be transparent here, I’d like to focus on some ways in which a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve could actually be a positive thing for Americans, from a progressive’s lens and values with an emphasis on social safety net spending. This has yet to be discussed at any scale, and I’d like to offer some thoughts, and some actual social good this could do besides just “strengthen the United States as a global power and strengthen the dollar.” Ok, but what could this do for actual, every day people in America? That’s what I care about, and probably you too.

This overwhelming image was captured today from https://www.usdebtclock.org/. What the U.S. doesn’t have a solid answer for is how we are going to pay for the vital services needed and expected from citizens at this point when facing a debt and spending crises compared to our budget/tax receipts. Depending on who you ask and which economic theories you subscribe to, there are different ways for handling this—but the issue remains: the U.S. is kicking the can down the road regarding debt, spending and refusing to either raise taxes or cut spending dramatically and catastrophically. I wanted to set the stage first, and then offer some strategic use cases of a SBR toward social safety net spending, the budget deficit, and a government by the people, for the people with Bitcoin.

While not directly connected to the SBR, the acceptance of Bitcoin at this stage could open the door for more possibilities regarding Bitcoin mining and the community.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for how progressives might theoretically approach a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. While this is more of an intellectual exercise at this point, and my focus continues to be on grassroots adoption of Bitcoin and how this can transform individual’s lives and communities around the world, it raises an important point — what social good could we imagine Bitcoin providing in our ever evolving, changing, and fiscally challenging world? Beyond just number go up, crypto traders, and wall street getting richer, what role can Bitcoin play in improving the lives of everyday people at a deep, structural level? We’ll continue to explore these questions here at The Progressive Bitcoiner.