Marathon Digital Holdings CEO Fred Thiel is calling on the U.S. government to begin mining Bitcoin to support its proposed strategic bitcoin reserve, warning that without actual accumulation, the initiative remains purely symbolic.
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Thiel emphasized the importance of action following President Donald Trump’s March executive order authorizing the creation of a national bitcoin reserve.
“The U.S. making a statement that we’re going to have a strategic reserve is an empty statement unless you start putting stuff into it,” Thiel said.
Bitcoin Mining as a Budget-Neutral Strategy
Thiel outlined potential ways for the U.S. to acquire bitcoin without direct federal spending, including the use of excess hydroelectric power to mine Bitcoin domestically. This aligns with the administration’s budget-neutral acquisition framework, intended to build reserves without expanding the deficit.
Currently, the government’s bitcoin holdings—primarily from civil and criminal forfeitures—total around 200,000 BTC, but Thiel and other industry leaders say this is only a starting point.
Senator Lummis Pushes for Bitcoin-Backed Sovereign Strategy
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a long-time crypto advocate, also addressed the reserve during the conference. In March, she reintroduced the BITCOIN Act of 2025, which would formalize the reserve and allow the conversion of underperforming U.S. gold certificates into bitcoin over a two- to five-year timeline.
“We have enough underperforming assets that we could acquire 5% of the world’s bitcoin without spending a single dime,” Lummis said.
However, she acknowledged that real progress on the bill—and broader efforts to fill the reserve—will likely be delayed until Congress finalizes stablecoin regulation and a crypto market structure bill.
“It’s a heavier lift than I thought because so many people don’t understand bitcoin,” Lummis noted.
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: Next Steps
The strategic bitcoin reserve is intended to boost U.S. national economic security by holding sovereign digital assets, but the lack of concrete steps to expand beyond seized bitcoin has sparked criticism.
Industry voices like Thiel continue to press for proactive acquisition, particularly through domestic mining as a means of ensuring monetary resilience and technological leadership in the emerging digital economy.