US Bill Seeks 5% Bitcoin Reserve Funded by Seized Crypto Assets

Congressman Nick Begich is introducing a bill to lock in a US strategic Bitcoin reserve targeting 5% of all Bitcoin in circulation — equivalent to the share of global gold the US already holds — and is proposing to fund it through Operation Economic Fury, the Treasury programme that has been seizing crypto assets tied to Iran. The administration is simultaneously asking the Federal Reserve to review letting crypto and fintech firms hold master accounts at the central bank, a privilege Kraken secured in March.

The macro backdrop is unusually constructive. The S&P 500 closed its eighth consecutive green weekly candle last week — only the 20th such streak since 1950 — with the index up nearly 20% in eight weeks. Bitcoin, by contrast, is grinding through a second leg of consolidation, with the bull market support band sitting just above $74,400 and the weekly close printing comfortably above it.

Why it matters

The reserve proposal matters less for its near-term price impact than for the political clock attached to it. Begich himself warned Republicans have a six-month window to pass the bill while they still control both chambers before the November midterms. The White House is also pushing the Crypto Market Structure Clarity Act before July 4th — legislation that market participants say could unlock roughly $30 billion of sidelined institutional capital waiting for a compliant on-ramp.

Layered on top is a foreign-policy signal: the Trump administration floated a "largely negotiated" Iran deal that briefly sent Bitcoin higher before the White House walked it back, saying an announcement could still be "several days" away. Geopolitical whiplash aside, the directional bias from Washington — toward formalising a sovereign crypto position rather than regulating it away — is the structural shift bulls have been waiting for.

Market impact

Wall Street veteran Jordi Visser's thesis, aired on the same broadcast, frames Bitcoin as the "purest AI trade" — a scarce, narrative-driven asset that benefits from the AI capex cycle without being disrupted by it. His call: Bitcoin breaks above its prior all-time high before year-end. The technical setup he highlights lines up with the macro case — a successful retest of $74,400 as support would mark a break of structure off the 2025 yearly low, with the next leg higher beginning in June.

The near-term risk is a bearish wick below $74,400 designed to liquidate late shorts before the real move — a pattern that has defined every prior consolidation leg in this cycle.