Bitcoin has evolved from a speculative investment into what many, including governments, see as “digital gold”. Some governments even think of creating a strategic reserve or Bitcoins. Big US tech companies and states are considering BTC as a hedge against inflation. This change is heavily promoted everywhere, especially in the United States, where policymakers are trying to redefine the role of Bitcoin in the financial landscape.
How did it happen? How does a crypto that is not even fully decentralized overcome traditional currencies commodities gold or fiat currency? And why are CEOs, politicians and even betting companies like 777 fun are optimisting on Bitcoin even despite its notorious volatility? Let’s try to find the answers for these why’s.
Corporate America’s Point of View
It all started back in 2020 when MicroStrategy decided to use Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. Michael Saylor argued that the purchasing power of dollars was steadily evaporating and companies should invest in something more inflation-proof. Seeking an alternative reserve asset, Saylor directed the company to begin accumulating Bitcoin aggressively as an inflation hedge and store of value. What started as an initial $250 million investment in August 2020 soon became a Bitcoin buying spree funded by excess cash.
By mid-2025, MicroStrategy had accumulated over 590,000 BTC on its balance sheet making it the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. At this point, it’s more than 2.5% of the total Bitcoin supply.
But MicroStrategy is not alone. In early 2021, Tesla invested $1.5 billion of its funds into Bitcoin. Soon after, Tesla even began accepting Bitcoin on its website for those who want to spend their Bitcoins on Tesla Model S. Clever, isn’t it? While Tesla later sold a significant portion of its holdings, it continues to hold about 11,500 BTC worth roughly $1.3 billion as of 2025) on its balance sheet.
Other tech pioneers have also jumped in: Block, Inc. accumulated over 8,500 BTC as of mid-2025, as part of Jack Dorsey’s vision of Bitcoin being a key asset for the company’s financial strategy. Even Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, holds a treasury of roughly 6,900 BTC to align with the crypto-centric nature of its business.
Warm Up for Bitcoin Reserve?
Corporate America’s crypto experiment has not gone unnoticed by policymakers. The idea of Bitcoin as a strategic reserve has begun to circle government circles. A first step was made in March 2025 when the White House under President Donald Trump issued an executive order to establish a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. This order marked the first time the US federal government officially acknowledged Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
The plan was to seed the reserve with Bitcoin already in government possession instead of immediately auctioning those coins off as done in the past. By consolidating nearly 200,000 BTC that various agencies had seized into a national “digital asset stockpile” the U.S. government effectively became one of the world’s largest Bitcoin holders. The executive order states that the U.S. will not sell the Bitcoin deposited into this reserve. The message from Washington was clear: the United States is positioning itself as a leader in the digital asset realm by treating Bitcoin as “digital gold” in its strategic reserves.
Opponents of this policy argue that Bitcoin can harm America’s financial stability. But Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming proposed for the Treasury to accumulate up to 5% of the total supply as a substantial Bitcoin reserve as a hedge against monetary instability.
Texas became the first U.S. state to create and fund a state-level Bitcoin reserve in 2025. In June of that year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act, allocating $10 million in state funds to purchase Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for a long-term reserve. Texas lawmakers championed the move as a way to strengthen the state’s “fiscal sovereignty” and signal that Texas is a “forward-thinking state prepared for the evolution of global finance”. One state senator described Bitcoin as a “critical asset for the future,” even referring to it as digital gold in legislative analyses. The initiative is largely symbolic: $10 million is a tiny fraction of Texas’s multi-billion-dollar budget. The law prohibits Texas from spending any realized Bitcoin profits without further approval. But the mere existence of a state-backed Bitcoin reserve reflects the shifting political winds.
Arizona and New Hampshire have passed legislation to set up crypto reserves, and there’s a race to become a crypto-friendly hub. By hoisting the Bitcoin flag, these states hope to attract blockchain businesses and talent, much as some city mayors have tried to do by taking paychecks in Bitcoin or promoting local crypto initiatives.
Not all U.S. officials are enthusiastic, however. Skeptics in financial regulatory roles often emphasize Bitcoin’s downsides. From their point of view, Bitcoin remains extremely volatile and lacks real-world value because gold and oil are used in the real world but Bitcoin just is not. For example, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have in the past described cryptocurrencies as largely speculative assets, not substitutes for the dollar. Regulators like the SEC have also been cautious. You will see this if you look at the slow approval of Bitcoin ETFs. By 2023, the U.S. permitted only Bitcoin futures-based ETFs, whereas Canada and several European nations approved direct Bitcoin ETFs, giving investors in those countries easier access to Bitcoin exposure through traditional markets.
The creation of the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in 2025 is still an open question. It is obvious that Bitcoin is here to stay and that the US government can benefit by holding this asset rather than ignoring or banning it.
