Senator Cynthia Lummis told the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas on May 27 that several US military generals endorse building a Bitcoin (BTC) reserve to bolster the nation’s economic deterrence.
Lummis said she discussed digital reserves with unnamed senior officers who “understand that economic power is as important as military power in addressing aggressors around the world.”
Per her speech, the officers “are big supporters of having a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”
Bitcoin reserve bill
Lummis and five other Republican senators reintroduced legislation to add up to 1 million BTC to the US Treasury over five years on March 11.
The move followed President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile on March 7.
Lummis framed Bitcoin reserves as an extension of US energy policy and industrial capacity. She credited China’s 2021 mining ban for driving the hash rate to North America and cited Trump’s recent call to “make Bitcoin mining and America conjoined.”
She argued that pairing domestic mining with federal accumulation would give Washington a “geopolitical advantage.”
The Wyoming Republican drew a parallel with Fort Knox, noting that the US holds roughly 5% of the global gold supply and should target the same share of Bitcoin.
Sovereign and state-level demand
Lummis highlighted state-level momentum regarding Bitcoin reserves, using them as an example to follow for the federal government.
Arizona and New Hampshire enacted strategic reserve legislation this year, and lawmakers in 30 additional states debated similar bills. Although many states have given up on plans to adopt Bitcoin for now, roughly 11 states are still debating legislation, with Texas being the farthest along.
She described the states as “incubators of innovation” and predicted their actions would pressure Congress and the Treasury Department to follow.
Furthermore, Lummis said global demand supports the case for federal reserves. She pointed to the UAE, where the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala, recently ramped up its exposure to Bitcoin through US-based exchange-traded funds.
The senator also highlighted the Czech National Bank studying Bitcoin for its portfolio. She said:
“That’s good for America because they’re going to build their sovereign wealth in Bitcoin through an American ETF.”
Lummis urged federal officials to treat Bitcoin as “digital gold” rather than a speculative instrument and to formalize reserve guidelines before other nations lock up larger shares of the fixed 21 million-coin supply.
The senator closed by asserting that energy-intensive proof-of-work mining and a strategic reserve would reinforce US leadership in both monetary and industrial domains. She added that state initiatives have now outlined a clear path that the federal government can adopt and scale.
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