S. 954 — BITCOIN Act of 2025

This section states congressional findings recognizing the growing role of digital assets in the global economy; Bitcoin's demonstrated resilience, adoption, and functions as a medium of exchange and store of value; Bitcoin's potential as a digital-age complement to gold reserves; and the benefits of U.S. acquisition and long-term storage of Bitcoin to enhance national financial security, hedge against uncertainty, complement existing reserves, and promote financial resilience and innovation.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) airdrop (i.e., gratuitous distribution of digital assets to holders of Bitcoin in a broad, equitable, and non-discretionary manner); (2) Bitcoin Purchase Program (i.e., the program established under section 5(a)); (3) cold storage (i.e., method of storing private keys required to transact in Bitcoin with a nexus to a secure physical location protected from unauthorized access and isolated from network connections); (4) fork (i.e., change to the consensus mechanism of a distributed ledger creating a separate ledger and new digital asset sharing transaction history with Bitcoin up to the change); (5) Secretary (i.e., Secretary of the Treasury); and (6) Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (i.e., decentralized network of secure Bitcoin storage facilities established under section 4(a)).

This section establishes the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve—a decentralized network of secure Bitcoin storage facilities distributed across the United States—for the cold storage, safekeeping, and management of government Bitcoin holdings. The Secretary of the Treasury must oversee its monitoring and auditing; ensure geographic dispersion of facilities based on risk assessments prioritizing security and accessibility; and implement state-of-the-art physical and digital security measures in consultation with the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security. The section further directs the Secretary to account for and store in the reserve all digital assets from Bitcoin forks and airdrops for a five-year holding period (during which they may not be sold absent explicit statutory authorization). After five years, the Secretary must assess forks by publicly traded market capitalization, retain the dominant asset, and dispose of non-dominant ones (with proceeds deposited in the Treasury general fund)—except that, following consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and experts, the Secretary may recommend congressional retention of any non-dominant asset with novel technological utility or strategic value.

This section establishes the Bitcoin Purchase Program, under which the Secretary of the Treasury shall purchase 200,000 Bitcoins per year over five years for a total of 1,000,000 Bitcoins in a transparent and strategic manner to minimize market disruption, with flexibility to adjust the purchase schedule by rule based on market conditions and offsets for any Bitcoin transferred to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve under section 7. All Bitcoins purchased under the program shall be deposited in the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and held for a minimum of 20 years from the date of acquisition, during which time no Bitcoin in the Reserve—regardless of acquisition method—may be sold, swapped, auctioned, encumbered, or otherwise disposed of; two years before the end of the holding period, the Secretary shall submit recommendations to Congress on continuing to hold the Bitcoin or allowing gradual release of a portion solely to reduce the national debt, with no recommendation to sell more than 10% of Reserve assets in any two-year period after expiration. The Secretary shall publish annual public reports on the program starting one year after enactment and continuing for 20 years; additional Bitcoin acquired beyond the 1,000,000 limit through federal agency transfers, civil or criminal forfeitures, gifts or bequests, or other lawful means (excluding direct purchases) shall be placed in the Reserve, subject to the same holding period, security, auditing, and reporting requirements. The Secretary shall coordinate program purchases with any Bitcoin purchases made through the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF). (As background, the ESF, established under 31 U.S.C. §5302, enables the Treasury to stabilize U.S. dollar exchange rates through transactions in foreign exchange and related instruments.)

This section establishes an ongoing Proof of Reserve system of public cryptographic attestation for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve under which the Secretary of the Treasury must (1) publish quarterly public reports detailing total holdings, transactions, and demonstrated control of private keys—including a cryptographic attestation—on an official Treasury website and select an independent third-party auditor with cryptographic expertise to verify the reports; and (2) the Comptroller General of the United States must conduct regular oversight of the reserve, reports, and audits.

This section directs any federal agency, including the United States Marshals Service, to (1) refrain from selling, swapping, auctioning, or otherwise encumbering Bitcoin under its control beginning on the date of enactment and (2) transfer such Bitcoin to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve upon acquisition of legal title (including after a final, unappealable judgment in a criminal or civil forfeiture action).

This section establishes a voluntary program allowing states to store their Bitcoin holdings in segregated accounts within the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Participating states must enter a contractual agreement specifying (1) responsibilities of the state and Reserve for managing and securing the holdings, (2) development of security protocols and access controls, and (3) state retention of title to the Bitcoin and any resulting forks or airdrops. The section authorizes states to withdraw or transfer holdings subject to the agreement and federal regulations and requires agreements to include state acknowledgment and assumption of all custody risks.

This section lowers the statutory cap on aggregate surplus funds of Federal Reserve banks to $2,400,000,000 (from $6,825,000,000), requiring excess amounts to be transferred to the Treasury general fund. (As background, Federal Reserve bank surplus funds receive net earnings after expenses and fixed dividends to member bank stockholders—generally 6% on paid-in capital stock, or the 10-year Treasury note rate for large stockholders—and any amount exceeding the cap is transferred to the Treasury.) It further directs that, for FY2025 through FY2029 if remittances occur, the first $6,000,000,000 of annual net earnings remittances from Federal Reserve banks to the Treasury (before deferred asset repayment) be used by the Secretary for the Bitcoin Purchase Program established in section 5. Additionally, it requires Federal Reserve banks to tender all gold certificates to the Treasury within 180 days of enactment for reissuance at fair market value within 90 days thereafter, with banks remitting the value difference to the Treasury general fund within 90 days; such funds are prioritized for the Bitcoin Purchase Program up to the amount needed to buy 1,000,000 Bitcoins, with any excess reducing public debt (and taking priority over remittances under subsection (b)), and the Secretary must report allocations annually under section 5(d). Finally, it strikes the fixed statutory gold price from 31 U.S.C. 5117(b).

This section provides that nothing in the Act authorizes the federal government to seize, confiscate, or impair property rights in lawfully acquired Bitcoin holdings or infringes on rights of individuals, businesses, or organizations to purchase, hold, transfer, or dispose of Bitcoin in accordance with law. The section further affirms persons' rights to maintain full lawful control over their Bitcoin and other digital assets, including self-custody of private keys.

This section amends the statute governing the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF)—which authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to hold and use certain assets to stabilize U.S. currency values—to (1) add section 5 of the BITCOIN Act of 2025 as an authority for ESF resources; and (2) expand the types of assets the ESF may purchase, hold, sell, or deal in to expressly include Bitcoin in addition to gold, foreign exchange, and other instruments of credit and securities. The section further amends ESF reporting requirements to direct the Secretary to include in semiannual reports on ESF assets and liabilities, and in annual reports on ESF operations, a detailed accounting of any Bitcoin transactions and holdings (including any Bitcoin purchased, sold, or held by the ESF in the preceding year).