Marathon chief urges U.S. to mine bitcoin to build a strategic reserve

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could fulfil its pledge to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) by starting to mine the cryptocurrency, said MARA CEO Fred Thiel, according to CoinDesk.

“The SBR announcement will be an empty sound if you don’t start filling it,” the executive said.

He said the approach aligns with a “budget-neutral” strategy for acquiring coins in Trump’s executive order. Surplus hydropower could be used for this purpose.

The approved order currently provides for holding bitcoins seized by the Treasury in criminal and civil cases. Sales of cryptocurrency from the reserve are prohibited.

VanEck’s proposal

Matthew Sigel, head of digital-asset research at VanEck, as a way to build the SBR proposed imposing a mining royalty. In that case, proceeds would come from bitcoin-mining businesses rather than taxpayers.

Under the concept, energy producers that flare or vent methane could deploy mobile data-centre units, receive rewards for mined blocks and be exempt from income tax.

Mining firms, in turn, would direct a portion of coins to the Treasury’s SBR wallet.

In his view, this model reduces greenhouse-gas emissions and diversifies bitcoin reserves without federal spending.

Sigel urged members of Congress to fold the provisions into energy, defence and appropriations bills. He cited federal oil-and-gas royalties as precedent for tying revenue to extractive activity.

Another VanEck proposal envisaged allocating $100 million from the Exchange Stabilization Fund to build the SBR. The expert acknowledged the initiative would face opposition from Democrats such as Elizabeth Warren.

Pakistan and beyond

On May 28, crypto firm K33, listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market, raised 60 million SEK ($6.2 million) to buy digital gold as a treasury asset. The company plans to use it, among other things, for lending.

Bilal Bin Saqib, the special assistant to Pakistan’s prime minister on blockchain and cryptocurrency, said Islamabad will establish a strategic bitcoin reserve. He added that the decision was inspired by the SBR in the United States.

At the Bitcoin 2025 conference, Bilal Bin Saqib, the special assistant to the Pakistani prime minister on blockchain and cryptocurrency, announced that the government of Pakistan will establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. He noted that the initiative was inspired by the United…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 28, 2025

Progress on SBR

On March 11, Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced in the U.S. Senate an updated Bitcoin Act that would allow the government to hold more than 1 million BTC within a crypto reserve.

The document envisages the U.S. buying 200,000 BTC annually for five years by reallocating existing funds of the ФРС and the Treasury. The updated version of the law permits accumulating coins by legitimate means — through confiscations, donations or transfers from federal agencies.

On May 28, Donald Trump’s special adviser on AI and cryptocurrencies, David Sacks, said the government would consider purchasing additional bitcoin if it can find the funds without new taxes or more federal debt. He noted such a scenario is possible by reallocating already appropriated resources.

In January, MARA’s CEO said the mining company had begun lobbying for the SBR across all 50 states and the U.S. federal government.

So far, the initiative has been approved in Texas, New Hampshire and Arizona. In Oklahoma, Montana, Pennsylvania, North and South Dakota, as well as Wyoming, attempts to create a strategic bitcoin reserve have also failed.